It's been a few days since Lisa Lampanelli tweeted out a photo of herself and Lena Dunham with the moronic caption, "Me and my nigga @LenaDunham of @HBOGirls — I love this beyotch!!" and, while Lampanelli gave an interview to XO Jane explaining her reasoning behind it (spoiler alert: her reasoning is stupid and unapologetic), Lena Dunham has, up until today, remained silent. On one hand, fair enough. Dunham had no control over what Lampanelli was writing and it's doubtful that she was clued into it ahead of time. But, on the other hand, as pointed out today on Twitter by writer Shayla Pierce, Dunham's lack of response or willingness to publicly decry Lampanelli's actions is almost as damning as being openly complicit.
I referred to @girlshbo's @lenadunhamas "rad" in one of my most recent pieces for @xojanedotcom. I'd like to publicly retract that.
— shayla writes (@ShaylaDPierce) February 22, 2013
.@lenadunham has showed her true colors on this whole n-word debacle. Her silence speaks volumes.
— shayla writes (@ShaylaDPierce) February 22, 2013
I don't think I'll be watching @girlshbo anymore. And I say that with honest sadness.
— shayla writes (@ShaylaDPierce) February 22, 2013
@vixenone Lena advertises herself as a progressive but she's chosen not to address the situation. She seems phony to me now.
— shayla writes (@ShaylaDPierce) February 22, 2013
Even a short "Not cool, Lisa" tweet would have nice. But nope. Crickets. @vixenone
— shayla writes (@ShaylaDPierce) February 22, 2013
Surprisingly, Dunham then responded to Pierce directly.
@shayladpierce That's not a word I would EVER use. Its implications are beyond my comprehension. I was made supremely uncomfortable by it.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) February 22, 2013
@shayladpierce Perhaps I should have addressed it, but the fact is I've learned that twitter debates breed more twitter debates.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) February 22, 2013
@shayladpierce Don't like the idea that my silence read to you as tacit approval. It wasn't.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) February 22, 2013
@shayladpierce But 140 characters will never be enough for the kind of dialogue that will actually help us address issues of race and class.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) February 22, 2013
My personal criteria for engaging twitter debate: I wait until something just sits so wrong in my belly & bones that I must finally speak.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) February 22, 2013
@shayladpierce Beautifully written— & I'm sorry that any of those feelings were evoked for you, especially by a sentence with my name in it
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) February 22, 2013
Thank you so much. And I do <3 you and your work. Thanks for addressing this *hugsies* @lenadunham
— shayla writes (@ShaylaDPierce) February 22, 2013
Dunham sounds sincerely regretful and, frankly, it would be ridiculous to hold Lampanelli's tweet against her. But what of Twitter not being the best place to address the issue? Dunham is right in some respects — 140 characters is not adequate space to address the horribleness that is a white person senselessly using the n-word (though I agree with Pierce — a "Not cool, Lisa" out of Dunham would have gone a long way), but the fact is that Dunham has access to much larger platforms. While it's not her responsibility to address it — again, she didn't do anything — her choice to pick up the mantle by publicly pointing out the idiocy of this kind of ironic racism would have been awesome and influential. A lot of us are already big fans of Lena Dunham's work as an artist. This would have just given us a chance to admire her as even more of a role model than she already is.
Lena Dunham responds to Lisa Lampanelli controversy on Twitter [EW]
