Lena Dunham, best known for creating and starring in HBO’s Girls, has landed herself in hot water after making some seemingly hypocritical statements defending Murray Miller who worked on the show with her.
Miller has been accused of raping actress Aurora Perrineau when she was just 17-years-old. Dunham has since apologized for the timing of her statements but that hasn’t stopped author Zinzi Clemmons from speaking out.
Clemmons is a contributor to Dunham’s online newsletter Lenny Letter and has stated on Facebook that she will no longer be writing pieces for the publication and has even asked women of color to “divest from Lena Dunham.”
Clemmons gave examples of Dunham’s attitude and connections throughout college as an explanation for her comments and decision. She wrote that she used to actively avoid Dunham and her friends in college because of their “well known racism.”
“For all you writers who are outraged about what she did, I encourage you to do the same. Especially women of color. She cannot have our words if she cannot respect us,” Clemmons wrote.
Lenny Letter was founded in 2015 with the help of Girls showrunner Jenni Konner and it was meant to empower women and feature the work of female writers. Clemmons’ book, What We Lose, was recently excerpted in the publication.
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https://twitter.com/zinziclemmons/status/932208393120608258
In her Facebook post, Clemmons stated that she had known Dunham and Girls co-star Jemima Kirke since her college days. The novelist said that the people Dunham spent time with during those years were known for their “hipster racism, which typically uses sarcasm as a cover,” and for excusing racist comments as “just a joke.”
“Most of these acquaintances were like Lena―wealthy, with parents who are influential in the art world,” she wrote. “They had a lot of power and seemed to get off on simultaneously wielding it and denying it.”
This all came up when Dunham and Konner defending Miller, saying they had “inside knowledge” of the situation with Perrineau.
“While our first instinct is to listen to every woman’s story, our insider knowledge of Murray’s situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the 3 percent of assault cases that are misreported every year,” they wrote in a statement. “It is a true shame to add to that number, as outside of Hollywood women still struggle to be believed. We stand by Murray and this is all we’ll be saying about this issue.”
After a massive backlash, Dunham apologized on Friday.
“I naively believed it was important to share my perspective on my friend’s situation as it has transpired behind the scenes over the last few months. I now understand that it was absolutely the wrong time to come forward with such a statement and I am so sorry,” she penned. “We apologize to any women who have been disappointed.”
Clemmons tweeted that the statement was simply not good enough.
https://twitter.com/zinziclemmons/status/932200880975286273