But not nearly as embarrassed as he might have been if he actually booked a hotel room with her and THAT got out!

James Franco appeared on Live! with Kelly & Michael on Friday morning, and the 35-year-old actor apologized for his (nearly) inappropriate interaction with 17-year-old Lucy Clode on Instagram the other night.

On Monday night Franco and Clode met following his production of Of Mice & Men on Broadway, and after she took a selfie with him and posted it online, the two began chatting on Instagram. The legal age of consent in New York City is 17, so it's not like the actor was doing anything illegal -- it was just super creepy!

Franco asked if Clode was single and wanted to get a hotel room, and he sent her a photo of himself with her name written on a piece of paper to prove that it was really him. Franco initially responded to the controversy on Twitter and wrote, “I HOPE PARENTS KEEP THEIR TEENS AWAY FROM ME. Thank you."

“I’m embarrassed and I guess I’m just a model of how social media is tricky. You just don’t know who is on the other end,” he told Kelly and Michael. “I used bad judgment and I learned my lesson. I was feeling awkward — I didn’t want to come on the show and just feel awkward. I’m embarrassed.”

It's ok James ... we were feeling awkward too! But we can't let him get away with saying that he didn't know who was on the other end, because Clode told him she was "nearly 18," so he knew exactly how old she was. Perhaps this was some sort of a stunt to promote his new movie, Palo Alto? After all, his character is a teacher who has a relationship with a teenage student, played by Emma Roberts...