Lena Dunham Is A F*ckboy
The ‘Girls’ star’s apology to Odell Beckham Jr. missed the mark, which shows that she isn’t taking the critique seriously.
By now we’ve all heard Lena Dunham’s comments from an interview she participated in with Amy Schumer, where the two discussed NFL star New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who Dunham was seated next to at the Met Gala last week. What the comments boil down to is yet another example of entitlement and insecurity wrapped in pseudo-feminist outrage from Dunham:
I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards. He was like, “That’s a marshmallow. That’s a child. That’s a dog.” It wasn’t mean — he just seemed confused.
The vibe was very much like, “Do I want to fuck it? Is it wearing a … yep, it’s wearing a tuxedo. I’m going to go back to my cell phone.” It was like we were forced to be together, and he literally was scrolling Instagram rather than have to look at a woman in a bow tie. I was like, “This should be called the Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes.”
This, despite the likelihood that Beckham didn’t talk to Dunham because he didn’t know who she was, but it’s also entirely possible that he did know who she was, and that he didn’t want to talk to her because of how problematic and boring she is. Only the most self-absorbed, oblivious, straight girl of straight girls would think she was being edgy by wearing a f*cking suit. As if an extremely successful, well-traveled Black man like Beckham had never seen a woman in a suit before. Side-eye.
Still, as Dunham says in the interview, there she was at the Met Gala surrounded by some of the most gorgeous and talented people in Hollywood, and rather than just sit with her discomfort around her own mediocrity, she decided to non-consensually include Beckham in her self-deprecating thoughts. In doing so she took away Beckham’s agency by assuming that he didn’t have a legit reason for not talking to her — which is both infantilizing and dehumanizing.
Beckham is a grown man who can decide who to talk to or not talk to — he’s not a dog.
Then again, maybe Dunham doesn’t know the difference because it seems like there are more actual dogs on her show than black men.
But all that aside, we could also talk about:
- How Dunham’s comments play into the stereotypes of the hyper-sexualization of Black men (especially athletes) and how damaging and historically significant it is that white people continue to project their fears and insecurities onto Black bodies.
- Her performance of victimhood and fragility — as if she was being harmed by Beckham sitting there next to her and ignoring her. (And the self-serving, opportunistic way that she and Schumer communicated their woe is me sentiments in order to play up how “hard and horrible” it is looking homely and plain amongst athletes and super-models at the Met Gala.)
- White Feminism’s shallow analysis when it comes to body positivity, which basically boils down to, “Well, he was supposed to desire (objectify) me,” and how these two conventionally sized, able-bodied white women have built careers around trying to monetize a body-positive movement that is for and by large-women, women of color, and visibly-disabled women.
In her response, Dunham initially addressed the mounting criticism by defending her comments as, “just her quirky sense of humor.” This, of course, ignored the fact that her comments were not funny, didn’t add anything feminist or body-positive to the conversation, and, in fact, perpetuated stereotypes — which was harmful and not at all entertaining.
Eventually, after significant internet dragging and educating by #BlackTwitter™, Dunham finally apologized to Beckham, acknowledging the “often violent history of the over-sexualization of black male bodies, as well as false accusations by white women toward black men.”
Unfortunately, Dunham’s lackluster apology only showed her ass yet again. Here this outstandingly basic, soggy “marshmallow” of a human being — missed the mark by failing to show any acknowledgement or gratitude towards the Black folks (primarily women) who called her out in the first place; an oversight which shows that she has already brushed off the incident and isn’t taking the critique seriously.
It’s obvious that even before #BeckhamGate, the mere mention of Dunham’s name has often been accompanied by visceral disgust and outrage. And rightfully so; she doesn’t seem to be able to open her mouth without perpetuating oppressive sh*t, advancing a creepily f*ckboy-like politic, and whining about White People Problems™.
I would hope that after yet another instance of this with the Met Gala internet “scandal”, people will have had enough, and realize that there are plenty of genuinely talented, funny, game-changing and clever female comedians out there.
We certainly don’t have to settle by listening to Dunham pretending she’s one of them.
