Delete those remarks, please
Lena Dunham had a lot to say about Twitter, Instagram and the Gawker family of websites in a podcast interview with Re/code published last week, some of which she’s now walking back, in the face of, perhaps ironically, Internet backlash.
During the interview, Dunham reported that she didn’t know her own Twitter password anymore, letting someone manage the account for her, having been driven from the site by continuous waves of verbal abuse, the most recent example of which came when Dunham posted a picture of herself wearing her boyfriend’s boxers on Instagram.
“I don’t want them seeing a picture of me in my boyfriend’s boxers and then be told I’m obese and anyone who looks like me is repulsive and I deserve to be dragged around and smacked,” she said.
Dunham’s looks are often the subject of discussion, often by legitimate publications. In January 2014, Jezebel, the feminist vertical of the Gawker Media platform, offered $10,000 for unretouched photos of Dunham’s Vogue photo shoot before then publishing the images. Dunham addressed the issue, saying: “I used to read Gawker and Jezebel in college and be like, ‘I can’t wait to get to New York where my people will be to welcome me.’ And it’s like, it’s literally, if I read it, it’s like going back to a husband who beat me in the face — it just doesn’t make any sense.”
It’s this statement that’s landed Dunham in a bit of hot water, as some interpreted the comment to be making light of domestic violence, leading Dunham to issue an apology on Instagram, in which she regrets the comparison.
Dunham’s interview, conducted alongside frequent collaborator Jenni Konner, took place to promote the pair’s nascent newsletter Lenny Letter, which consists of a variety of pieces about feminism, politics, style, health, friendship and more. The press push for the newsletter has resulted in several interesting bits of information coming about, such as a separate interview promoting the newsletter in which Dunham mentioned that Season 6 of HBO’s “Girls” might be its last.
“Never say never, but that is the way we’re thinking about it right now and we’re starting to think about sort of how to wrap up the story lines of these particular young women.”