Lena Dunham Responds to Anger Over Comedian's N-Word Tweet
Lena Dunham didn't speak to the press at the Writers Guild Awards last Sunday, nor did she give a long speech when she accepted the trophy for best new series. And yet, she still finds herself embroiled in a controversy that launched during the show, even though it was none of her doing.
Comedian and presenter Lisa Lampanelli, who is famously known for her foul mouth, tweeted a photo of herself and Dunham at the awards, with the caption "Me with my n---a @LenaDunham of @HBOGirls - I love this beyotch!" Predictably, the tweet fired up critics, angry at Lampanelli -- a white woman -- for using the word.
One writer, Shayla Pierce, wrote several stories for various online publications expressing her outrage, and then took to Twitter to call out Dunham for not condemning Lampanelli.
".@LenaDunham has showed her true colors on this whole n-word debacle. Her silence speaks volumes," she tweeted. "I don't think I'll be watching @girlsHBO anymore. And I say that with honest sadness... Lena advertises herself as a progressive but she's chosen not to address the situation. She seems phony to me now."
Dunham responded on Twitter, writing that she would never use the n-word and that Lampanelli's tweet made her "supremely uncomfortable," but stayed silent because "twitter debates breed more twitter debates."
She added that "140 characters will never be enough for the kind of dialogue that will actually help us address issues of race and class," and then commended Pierce for a "beautifully written piece," apologizing for any discomfort she may have felt.
Pierce happily accepted her response, writing, "Thank you so much. And I do <3 you and your work. Thanks for addressing this *hugsies* @lenadunham."
For her part, Lampanelli has defended her use of the word, saying "The N-word ending in 'er' is far different context from the word ending in 'a.' Ask any person who knows the urban dictionary, it means 'friend."
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i'm implyin that WOC who aren't out there don't work hard enough? how? by calling out people who are claiming here that lena isn't representing them or a worldview that they see fit, when she's an artist and can paint whatever fucking portrait she damn well pleases? if you don't like it, then get out there and do something about it. why are you wasting your time in this forum? what good is all of this negativity serving, particularly that pointed toward her, and even more particularly negativity pointed toward her in *THIS* circumstance? it's not lena dunham's personal fault that she has a show on the air and Talented Black/Latina Writer #1,353 does not, and making her the arbiter of such completely devalues that argument. completely. furthermore, it's not her job or responsibility to paint with the colors you (or anyone) deem fit. that's complete bullshit.
you're probably going to retalliate/respond, say something more that really negates everything i just said (and have been trying to say), but i won't respond. because at this point (in the day...in my career...) i've found that it's pointless to keep running in circles with people that have a very clear agenda and an even clearer chip on their shoulder. you wanna talk about race? ethics in media? that's great. why are we all talking about lena dunham in this mess then and NOT lisa lampanelli? precisely my point. your arguments, along with several others, are just loud, unfocused noise. goddamn yes, certainly i'd love to see more black, brown, yellow, and purple people on my tv, but at the end of the day, that is not lena dunham's personal fault or responsibility.
oh and by the way thank you on the congratulations! i'm really proud of my accomplishments, too :)
i'm implyin that WOC who aren't out there don't work hard enough? how?
and I quote:
"i'm successful. and it's because i'm not wasting my time blaming other people for my problems."
you actually said that you're a successful because ONLY YOU apparently work hard, other POC's stories aren't told in film/TV because they don't work hard enough and instead bitch and moan about not being on TV
You are ridiculous. I'm glad you're not gonna bother to respond so I don't have to read another of your asinine comments where you think Lena's feelings are the issue and not the fact that the media is actively dismissive of people of color.
you actually just quoted AND bolded me and yet - still! - added the context that ONLY I am successful because i'm doing this. that's absurd. i'm not even going to counter with that, because i want you to look at what you said and realize how fucking idiotic you sound.
you wanna get mad? fine. get mad. get really angry. go get mad and angry at the media for its sore lack of representation of POC. cuz you're wasting your time and spinning your wheels here, by pointing fingers at all the wrong people.
I mean not even just you, but the many people that get so butthurt on behalf of this chick being criticized. She is not the first person to get criticized for this, and she unfortunately will not be the last because of course white people will continue to dominate TV for the next 50 years. And people like you fail to understand why.
Yours was a nice attempt to stump me though.
So it's not okay when Joss does it, and it's not okay when Lena does it...but you seem forgiving enough to be a fan of that work and wear it as a badge, meaning you basically enjoyed, and contributed, to the very cause you seem to be so angry with and fighting against with all your passionate little POC-cheerleading heart in this post. White people will continue to rule the tv landscape, you say? Well you certainly didn't do a thing to stop it before.
I'm not trying to out you as a Joss-stan, it took one, quick moment of holding up the mirror to show you what an intolerable hypocrite you are. Like many people in this post, you're just full of irrational, misplaced, misdirected anger.
Also there are sooooooo many different groups not represented on every TV show... why is Girls being singled out? Personally I am gay and while it's awesome to see a gay character on TV, I'm not going around and bashing all the shows that don't have any. If a show portrays gays wrong then I will criticize them, but it's not any writers responsibility to make a show based around my background. So it's confusing why it's Lena's fault to these people.
And you accurately pointed out their icon which is a very whitewashed show. I love irony.
but I already knew that, doesn't make my comments any less true, but if that makes you feel better!
And I never said it makes your comments less true. I can easily say without your icon that a lot of your comments are you channeling other anger about the general lack of POC on TV into hating Lena Dunham for truthfully not doing anything negative towards any minority. You are personally not represented on a show where you feel like you should be, that's fine... but Lena didn't do anything wrong and people act like she did.
You are talking to someone who is gay and the only roles on TV with gay people are the sassy rude friend or the drug addict who everyone looks down on... so yah I understand your point. But I don't go to random shows where i feel like gays should be included and say that show is terrible and the lead writer is homophobic for not including a gay character. It's not like that. So that's how I view this. Everyone is acting like she is belittling POC when she's not.
And you were arguing with a single latino mother about representation on TV. I want to say that there are more strong black characters on TV than strong latino characters. So it seemed a little crazy that you feel wronged by this random HBO show Girls, when this woman has pretty much no shows to look up to.
Edited at 2013-02-23 04:07 am (UTC)
Haha, that is basically the point I found myself continually needing to reiterate, but perhaps not as succinctly (or cleanly) as you just did. Then having to deal with several assumptions that I must be white or privileged to even have these opinions just shows the ugliness and outright hypocrisy.