A 2017 Tweet by the Hollywood Reporter recently came under fire for its deaf-tone praise of Lena Dunham, the creator of the popular TV series, ‘Girls.’ The Reporter’s post pointed out that Dunham was just 23-years-old when she successfully pitched Girls to HBO with no character or plot.
.@LenaDunham was 23 when she sold #Girls to HBO with a page-and-a-half-long pitch, without a character nor a plot https://t.co/dFphYaT4pE pic.twitter.com/MLUgJEhZ1w
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) April 16, 2017
Black and POC creatives were quick to point out that Dunham was upheld by an industry that values professional connections and whiteness over talent. Dunham’s father, Carroll Dunham, was a well-known painter with a network in the arts.
In contrast, users pointed out that non-white creatives are often forced to show up fully prepared to prove themselves and even then are often turned away from opportunities.
I wrote an entire 3 hour Green Lantern/Static movie in early 2018 titled “No Justice, No Peace” and I can’t even get a meeting with @WBCareers @hbomax and @TheDCUniverse
Here’s the link
https://t.co/gs9BMhQ4Uu pic.twitter.com/nuCY16gP15— Moeses KIIINT (@MoesesKIIINT) June 28, 2020
This is what we’re talking about when we say “African Americans have to work twice as hard to get half as much.”
— Serious Black (@NicsuPR) June 28, 2020
Some mentioned well-known Black creators such as Issa Rae to prove their point. Rae had a YouTube channel called “Awkward Black Girl” with millions of views and a pilot for “Insecure” before she was given a similar platform by HBO.
To everyone that keeps bringing up Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture movie, remember Issa Rae had to have 2 seasons of her show she CREATED before receiving the similar opportunity. #Privilage #Defined
— SmokinAces (@SmokinAcesLTL) July 24, 2019
On Sunday evening, Dunham responded to the Tweets about her in a thread. In it, she agreed that Hollywood was “rigged” in favor of white people and that she didn’t realize at first that her whiteness allowed her career to take off with “relative ease.”
She ended by advocating for more change for Black people.
“Listen,” she wrote. “Make art in private for awhile- no one needs your book right now lady. Give reparations widely. Defund the police. Rinse & repeat.”
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. (Thread)
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) June 29, 2020
