Earlier this week, millennial auteur Lena Dunham became the target of baseless accusations of child sexual abuse after conservative American media began to allege that certain events Dunham describes in her memoir in relation to her sister, Grace, amounted to acts of molestation.
The accusations lead Dunham, who is currently touring Europe in promotion of her book, to cancel a number of recent public appearances and most noticeably resulted in a “rage spiral”, excerpts from which included:
The right wing news story that I molested my little sister isn’t just LOL- it’s really fucking upsetting and disgusting.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 1, 2014
And by the way, if you were a little kid and never looked at another little kid’s vagina, well, congrats to you.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 1, 2014
Usually this is stuff I can ignore but don’t demean sufferers, don’t twist my words, back the fuck up bros.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 1, 2014
Today, despite Grace Dunham’s oblique defence of her sister, Dunham has again had to address the issue in a formal statement delivered to TIME Magazine that unequivocally condemns abuse under any circumstances while also apologising for using the term “sexual predator” to describe how, as a child, she would bribe her little sister with candy in exchange for kisses [“Basically, anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl I was trying.”]
Dunham’s statement in full reads as follows:
I am dismayed over the recent interpretation of events described in my book Not That Kind of Girl.
First and foremost, I want to be very clear that I do not condone any kind of abuse under any circumstances.
Childhood sexual abuse is a life-shattering event for so many, and I have been vocal about the rights of survivors. If the situations described in my book have been painful or triggering for people to read, I am sorry, as that was never my intention. I am also aware that the comic use of the term “sexual predator” was insensitive, and I’m sorry for that as well.
As for my sibling, Grace, she is my best friend, and anything I have written about her has been published with her approval.
UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter have obtained a four page letter from Dunham’s attorneys demanding the offending conservative publishing parties apologise for subjecting Dunham “to ridicule, and to injure her in her occupation.”
via TIME
Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images
