Lena Dunham: My 'Sexual Predator' Joke Went Too Far

She apologizes for parts of memoir after controversy
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 5, 2014 10:59 AM CST
Lena Dunham: My 'Sexual Predator' Joke Went Too Far
Lena Dunham holds her memoir, "Not That Kind of Girl," ahead of a book signing at Waterstones Piccadilly in central London on Oct. 29, 2014,   (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

Lena Dunham has again addressed the controversy swirling around her memoir, this time with slightly less "rage." Dunham was called a child molester by conservative writers who were upset by anecdotes in Not That Kind of Girl, including one in which Dunham recalls being a curious 7-year-old who looked at her baby sister's vagina. Though Dunham isn't backing down, ABC News notes that she has apologized for one line in which she describes offering her toddler sister "three pieces of candy if I could kiss her on the lips for five seconds ... basically anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl." In a statement to Time, Dunham says, "I am ... aware that the comic use of the term 'sexual predator' was insensitive, and I'm sorry for that."

She adds, "I do not condone any kind of abuse under any circumstances. ... If the situations described in my book have been painful or triggering for people to read, I am sorry, as that was never my intention." She also says her sister, Grace, is her "best friend" and approved anything written about her in the book. But she's not letting one writer who initially stirred up the controversy off the hook: On Truth Revolt, Ben Shapiro writes that Dunham has sent the blog a cease-and-desist letter demanding the site remove the post in which Bradford Thomas said Dunham sexually abused Grace, as well as publish an apology. Shapiro says Dunham is threatening legal action if the site doesn't comply—and it doesn't plan to. "Quoting a woman's book does not constitute a 'false' story," Shapiro writes. Click for more reactions. (More Lena Dunham stories.)

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