Lena Dunham has taken to Twitter to respond to controversy surrounding an anecdote she told about NFL player Odell Beckham Jr..
During an interview with Amy Schumer in Dunham’s own Lenny newsletter, the Girls actress recalled sitting next to the American football star at this summer’s Met Ball in New York City.
“I was sat 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 said. “He was like ‘That’s a marshmallow. That’s a child. That’s a dog’. It wasn’t mean – he just seemed confused.”
Dunham continued: “The vibe was very much like, ‘Do I want to f*** it? Is it wearing a… yep it’s wearing a tuxedo. I’m going 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’.”
Beckham Jr. has yet to respond to the anecdote, but some commentators on Twitter accused Dunham of being unfair towards the athlete and claimed her comments were a sign of her white privilege.
Lena Dunham just really tried to slam Odell Beckham jr. Over a conversation she had with herself in her head ???????
— Anthony Morrow (@MrAnthonyMorrow) September 2, 2016
Still can't get over how Lena Dunham just showed her white privilege, sense of entitlement and fake feminism so clearly at once.
— Ms. Shipoopi (@MsLetomi) September 3, 2016
Responding to the accusations on Twitter, Dunham did not apologise to the athlete, but explained that the anecdote was supposed to say more about her than it did about Odell Beckham Jr.
“My story about him was clearly (to me) about my own insecurities as an average-bodied woman at a table of supermodels & athletes,” she wrote. “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.”
.@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
