Here's Riff Raff Impersonating James Franco on One Life to Live
[There was a video here]
The hardest working assclown in showbiz, rapper Riff Raff, appears on today's episode of the soap opera One Life to Live (now brought to you by Hulu) as a “art dealer, multimillionaire” named Jamie Franko. It is a predictably unsubtle jab at James Franco, whose Spring Breakers character Alien was clearly inspired by Riff Raff. As detailed in Amos Barshad's excellent Grantland piece "The Curious Case of Riff Raff vs. Spring Breakers," director Harmony Korine initially invited Riff Raff to appear in the film, but that eventually changed. Franco gave more credit to Florida rapper Dangeruss as "a main source of inspiration" for the role in an essay he wrote for MTV. Dangeruss does appear in the film.
Here is what Riff Raff told Grantland on the quote-unquote situation:
It even came to a point where I was like, "I don't need to get paid. I'll fly out there and do the movie." But [Korine] also didn't put me on the soundtrack, so now I'm looking at it like maybe he's not my friend? And the fact that I have to fight this quote unquote James Franco situation — I don't know, man. Just watch the movie.
And so, in an utterly bizarre act of pop cultural revenge, Riff Raff plays Jamie Franko on a One Life To Live, just as James Franco played Franco on General Hospital from 2009 to 2011. Riff Raff's Jamie has nothing to do with Franco in anything but name in concept — it'd be a stretch to even say that this is Riff Raff doing James Franco doing Riff Raff.
It is, however, astoundingly weird and seemingly improvised. Riff Raff tells club owner Cutter that he's there "to get my monies...need my fettuccines." He refers to a waitress as a "mermaid." He warns women of tumbleweeds in the club. My favorite part is when he encourages the two women he's with to kiss and then when they do, he says, "Oh, that’s so good for me right now. It’s like nutrition in my body." I feel that way exactly about this performance.