Actress Lena Dunham (left) and NFL player Odell Beckham Jr. (right)
Following severe social media backlash, actress Lena Dunham has issued an apology for a slew of controversial comments she made about NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
Dunham came under fire for her remarks on how Beckham, a player for the New York Giants, reacted to being seated at her table at this year’s star studded Met Gala. According to NBC New York, the comedienne made distasteful comments during an interview with fellow comic Amy Schumer.
“I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards,” Dunham told Schumer. “He was like, ‘That’s a marshmallow. That’s a child. That’s a dog.’ It wasn’t mean — he just seemed confused.”
The actress went on to complain about how the NFL star virtually ignored her that evening, assuming that he didn’t find her attractive enough to look at.
“The vibe was very much like, ‘Do I want to f—k it?’ Dunham continued. ‘Is it wearing a … yep, it’s wearing a tuxedo. I’m going to go back to my cell phone.” It was like we were forced to be together, and he literally was scrolling Instagram rather than have to look at a woman in a bow tie. I was like, ‘This should be called the Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes.’ ”
Social media exploded with harsh criticisms aimed at the 30-year-old actress for her insensitive comments. Many argued that Dunhams’s white privilege made her assume that Beckham owed her something by speaking to her at the upscale event. Others dragged the comedienne for attributing the misogynistic remarks to the football star when he never uttered a word to her.
Dunham attempted to downplay the severity of her comments and subsequent backlash by explaining that her narrative of what happened that night came from a place of insecurity.
.@OBJ_3 is talented, stylish, seems super awesome and wasn't into chatting with me at a fancy party.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) September 2, 2016
My story about him was clearly (to me) about my own insecurities as an average-bodied woman at a table of supermodels & athletes.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) September 2, 2016
It's not an assumption about who he is or an expectation of sexual attention. It's my sense of humor, which has kept me alive for 30 years.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) September 2, 2016
Glad the outrage machine roars on though, right @amyschumer?
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) September 2, 2016
Dunham later issued a formal apology to the athlete, stating that she had wrongly projected her insecurities onto Beckham and then “made totally narcissistic assumptions about what he was thinking.” She also apologized for presenting her assumptions as facts.
“I see how unfair it is to ascribe misogynistic thoughts to someone I don’t know AT ALL,” Dunham said in a lengthy admission of guilt posted to her Instagram page. “Like, we have never met, I have no idea the kind of day he’s having or what his truth is.”
“But most importantly, I would never intentionally contribute to a long and often violent history of the over-sexualization of black male bodies- as well as false accusations by white women towards black men,” she added.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ50WGnAZDk/?taken-by=lenadunham
Despite her efforts to save face, the damage had already been done.
A new wave of outrage came rolling in after a tweet posted to Dunham’s account in 2010 resurfaced on social media.
“Just found my ‘creativity journal’ from 2005,” the tweet read. “It begins: ‘I dreamed I was a prostitute and that I molested an African-American rodent.”
The following year, she tweeted a bigoted comment about Asian men.
“An uncool thought to have: ‘is that guy walking in the dark behind me a rapist?'” it said. “Never mind, he’s Asian.”
Social media users subsequently dragged the comedienne for her unapologetically racist jokes.
https://twitter.com/runtheworId/status/771841820762509314
https://twitter.com/FUTUREPLANSSS/status/772007188374048768
Black Twitter reaction after reading @lenadunham's "little african american rodent" tweet — pic.twitter.com/0usPGshEys
— greg the menace (@mistergeezy) September 3, 2016
https://twitter.com/LilMissRightie/status/771867885383868417
