'Spring Breakers' director Harmony Korine is a bit of an enigma. His movie 'Gummo' is still a controversial subject among film critics, as is his dabbling in illicit substances. Now, David Letterman has explained why Korine was banned from his program more than a decade ago.

'SB' star James Franco stopped by 'The Late Show' to promote his new film and talk about his favorite subject (James Franco) when he confronted Dave about blacklisting his "good friend."

As legend has it, Korine was upset about being bumped from a scheduled appearance in 1999 (which would have been his fourth 'Late Show' interview), came unhinged in the green room and shoved one of the best actresses alive: Meryl Streep.

"He said he was a little out of it," Franco said. "Harmony is a very sane guy now. He's a great artist and a great person to work with. I think he had a period where he was going a little off the rails, so maybe he was on something that night."

That's when Dave cleared the air and explained what really happened.

"I went upstairs to greet Meryl Streep and welcome her to the show, and I knock on the door ... and she was not in there [but] I found Harmony going through her purse. True story. And so I said, 'That's it, put her things back in her bag and then get out.'"

Franco assured Dave that Harmony's doing much better and Letterman said he'd be "happy" to have him back on the program. Let's just hope he doesn't pickpocket Daniel Day-Lewis.

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