Lena Dunham appeared on The Breakfast Club Thursday and addressed the criticism her HBO comedy “Girls” has received for its lack of diversity.
Charlemagne tha God brought up the subject saying, “Now let’s talk about Black people,” and Dunham didn’t hesitate to say, “I’m in.” Charlemagne asked if Dunham felt she had made up for the lack of diversity that drew controversy when the show premiered in 2011.
“I’m not gonna say that I’ve made up for it, because I think what would really be making up for it is what I’m trying to do with my newsletter, and what Jenni [Konner] and I are trying to do with our production company. (It) is if we can support female voices of color the way that our voices have been supported.”
Dunham added that she does not disagree with the critiques her show received for failing to represent New Yorkers of color, but she added it was not her place to co-opt the stories of other groups.
“I think that everyone’s criticism of “Girls” was totally valid, but at the end of the day, there need to be female (creators). That’s why I’m so excited about “Insecure” and Issa Rae, because that voice needs to be on television. It doesn’t need to be my voice telling the story of a Black woman’s New York experience, it needs to be Issa getting to go deep and go personal about what it feels like for her to be a young Black woman dating in Los Angeles right now.”
Dunham clarified that her characters were simply extensions of herself and that she hopes to help more women share their experiences in the future.
“I was writing these characters who were all in some ways extensions of myself. Looking back, I don’t ever want to see another poster that’s four White girls. I don’t think we need to live in a world where we have a poster that’s four white girls. That being said, at age 23, I do not think I was equipped— I didn’t want to just write… the experience of being a young Black woman in Brooklyn is different from the experience of being a young White woman in Brooklyn. And I wanted to write from a place of accuracy and passion and understanding, and so in the future I would love to collaborate with and support women who want to tell their stories rather than try to attempt to sort of co-opt their stories so that I have the cast that looks great on the poster.”
SOURCE: TheBreakfastClub | PHOTO: Getty
