One of the leading writers for Leana Dunham and Jenni Konner’s online feminist weekly newsletter Lenny Letter has quit working for the women after Lena defended the rape allegations of actress Aurora Perrineau.
Zinzi Clemmons is a woman of colour who said in a Twitter statement that "[Lena] cannot have our words if she cannot respect us.”
Zinzi's move comes after Aurora (who is also a woman of clour) filed sexual assault charges against former Girls writer Murray Miller. Leana and her colleague Jenna followed up by sending a statement to The Hollywood Reporter defending Miller. Many were appalled by Lena's actions since she's always claimed of being a so-called feminist.
Her move was even more questionable after she submitted an op-ed to The New York Times about a time a director sexually harassed her, describing how actions men such as Harvey Weinstein are doing against women in Hollywood should not be silenced: "[Women] need a signal that [this industry does] not approve of the abuse of power and hatred of women that is the driving force behind this kind of behavior."
Zinzi's statement on Lena describes how she knew the actress much before she was famous, calling her strain of insensitive comments "hipster racism [...] which typically uses sarcasm as a cover, and in the end, it looks a lot like gaslighting– “It’s just a joke. Why are you overreacting?” is a common response to a lot of these statements."
The writer adds how she was "horrified" by Aurora's recount of her assault since it mirrored an assault by a friend at the hands of Lena's circle of friends.
Lena has since apologized for defending Murray, but it's safe to say her reputation has taken a massive hit.
