An American author is calling for women of colour to separate themselves from Girls creator Lena Dunham, accusing her of "well known racism".
What We Lose author Zinzi Clemmons has announced on Twitter that she will no longer be writing for Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's online feminist weekly newsletter Lenny Letter.
In a Tweet on Saturday (local time) Clemmons wrote she has known Dunham since their college years, and the two share overlapping social circles.
During that time, Clemmons says she "avoided those people like the plague because of their racism," adding, "I'd call their strain 'hipster-racism,' which typically uses sarcasm as a cover."
She wrote that one of Dunham's friends used "was known to use the N word in conversation in order to be provocative, and if she was ever called on it, she would say 'it's just a joke'."
Clemmons wrote that the tipping point came when Dunham defended Girls writer Murray Miller after he was accused of sexual assault by actress Aurora Perrineau. She and Konner issued a statement in support of their long-time co-worker, describing Perrineau's accusation as "one of the three percent of assault cases that are misreported every year". This prompted outrage, and the two issued a second statement apologising for the first, and saying, "we regret this decision with every fibre of our being."
Clemmons cites her relationship with her editors as the reason she has stayed at Lenny until now, but says that Dunham's reaction to the accusations made by Perrineau pushed her to leave the newsletter.
"As a result of Lena Dunham's statements, I have decided that I will no longer write for Lenny Letter. For all you writers who are outraged about what she did, I encourage you to do the same. Especially women of colour."
"I grew up middle class, with no family connections in the writing or art worlds, and my friend was from a similar background. We were powerless against them."
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