Lena Dunham apologises for sexual assault comments

Recently, Girls writer Murray Miller was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl in 2012. Staunch feminist (if you count feminism as a concept that centres entirely around yourself) Lena Dunham, had previously asserted that women don’t lie about rape. Following the allegations against Miller though, she released a statement alongside co-showrunner Jenni Konner saying that their “insider knowledge” of Murray’s situation meant that, in this case, a woman had lied. Hmm.

They said that this incident just so happened to be one of the “3 per cent” of assault cases that are misreported every year. Dunham and Konner, despite the evidence and a polygraph that the victim passed, decided to stand by their accused friend.

Now, after mass outrage about Dunham’s comments and continued hypocrisy in her feminism, she has posted a statement that appears to apologise for her stance and recognise that hypocrisy. She says, in a note on Twitter, “under patriarchy, ‘I believe you’ is essential. Until we are all believed, none of us will be believed. We apologise to any women who have been disappointed”.

Aurora Perrineau, now 23, told the Wrap that she had filed an official police report against Miller for an incident that happened in 2012 when she was 17. 

Prior to Dunham’s second statement, writer Zinzi Clemmons posted on Twitter that she was parting ways with Lenny Letter, and encouraged other women of colour to do the same. She cited an incident that happened with one of Lena’s friend in college, where one of Zinzi’s best friends was racially victimised by someone in Dunham’s circle. She said “let’s hold Lena accountable, and to me that means sacrificing some comfort, and a little bit of cash, in this moment”.