Lena Dunham issued a contrite statement about her privilege in which she called for reparations and to defund the police after being called out on social media.
The 34-year-old creator of “Girls” took to Twitter on Sunday to acknowledge what an easy time she’s had in showbusiness after “Star Wars” actor Ahmed Best suggested that Hollywood racism played a role in Dunham selling her show to HBO without a complete pitch or full character in mind.
“Whenever I find out I’m trending, I have to immediately check if I’m alive! Then, I try and see if there’s a constructive dialogue to have on Twitter. Often there isn’t, but today there really WAS,” Dunham began her thread on Twitter. “It actually wasn’t a dialogue - it was just me agreeing that the Hollywood system is rigged in favor of white people and that my career took off at a young age with relative ease, ease I wasn’t able to recognize because I also didn’t know what privilege was.”
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She concluded by noting that she plans to “make art in private” for a while before calling on the country to “give reparations widely” and to “defund the police.”
“The past ten years have been a series of lessons. The lesson now? Sit down. Shut up, unless it’s to advocate for change for Black people. Listen. Make art in private for awhile- no one needs your book right now lady,” she wrote. “Give reparations widely. Defund the police. Rinse & repeat.”
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The tweets came the same day that Best shared a tweet from The Hollywood Reporter noting that Dunham was 23 when she sold “Girls” to HBO with a page-and-a-half-long pitch and absolutely no characters developed. In it, he suggested that the deck is stacked against black creators.
“I have a masters degree in film and teach film at a top tier university, An over twenty five year professional career and I walk into pitches with a fully realized bible pilot and seven season arc, and often times told it’s not enough,” he wrote. “But Lena Dunham, cool.”
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When Dunham sold “Girls” to HBO, the outlet notes that her only real work in the industry had been a $50,000 indie movie called “Tiny Furniture” about a young woman who moves back home with her parents after college that she wrote, directed and starred in alongside her real-life friends and family. Her HBO show premiered in 2012 to rave reviews. It would finally air its series finale in 2017 after six seasons.