Lena Dunham Admits White Privilege Helped Her Get an HBO Deal
Lena Dunham is acknowledging that white privilege helped her secure her Girls deal at HBO when she was 23 years old.
In a series of tweets, the writer and actress responded when filmmakers and actors of color began commenting on a tweet from The Hollywood Reporter that read: “@LenaDunham was 23 when she sold #Girls with a page-and-a-half-long pitch, without a character nor a plot.”
“Whenever I find out I’m trending, I have to immediately check if I’m alive,” Lena wrote. “Then, I try and see if there’s a constructive dialogue to have on Twitter. Often there isn’t, but today there really WAS.”
“It actually wasn’t a dialogue. It was just me agreeing that the Hollywood system is rigged in favor of white people and that my career took off at a young age with relative ease, ease I wasn’t able to recognize also because I didn’t know what privilege was.”
She added, “The past ten years have been a series of lessons. The lesson now? Sit down. Shut up, unless it’s to advocate for change for Black people. Listen. Make art in private for awhile- no one needs your book right now lady. Give reparations widely. Defund the police. Rinse & repeat.”
Other commentators, like MSNBC’s Jason Johnson, chimed in.
Well, let’s face it… it’s a thing. At least Lena is being honest and willing to try to change the system.