She is sorry she called Aurora Perrineau a liar, but claims it wasn’t her fault. The patriarchy made her do it
Lena Dunham seems to be on a bizarre PR offensive. Over the past few weeks, the Girls creator and incorrigible controversialist has become ever more difficult to ignore. First, New York magazine published a long interview with Dunham, inspiring a gazillion hot takes. Now Dunham has catalysed a new wave of headlines for doing what she seems to do worst: apologising. On Wednesday, she caused an uproar by publishing a guest editor letter in the Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment issue, in which she said she felt terrible for discrediting the actor Aurora Perrineau.
Some background: last year Perrineau accused Murray Miller, a writer on Girls, of raping her when she was 17. Dunham, alongside the Girls producer Jenni Konner, immediately defended Miller. The pair published a statement proclaiming that: “Our insider knowledge of Murray’s situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the 3% of assault cases that are misreported each year.” In other words: Perrineau was a liar. The statement was not well received and Dunham, who had previously tweeted that women don’t lie about rape, was accused of hypocrisy. She was also accused of “hipster racism”: Perrineau is mixed-race and Dunham has a history of appearing to marginalise women of colour and their experiences. After the backlash Dunham issued an apology. Then the news cycle churned forward; public attention moved on. (Miller had denied the allegation and the police declined to prosecute, citing inconsistencies in the evidence.)
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