Posted on 03/27/2015 7:21:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Lena Dunham is in the doghouse with the Anti-Defamation League over her latest New Yorker essay.
The ADL took a shot at the "Girls" creator over a satirical new essay comparing her dog with her Jewish boyfriend, calling the piece "tasteless" for playing "with offensive stereotypes about Jews."
In the essay in the highbrow mag's March 30 issue, the 28-year-old actress asks, "Do the following statements refer to (a) my dog or (b) my Jewish boyfriend?"
"He doesn't tip. And he never brings his wallet anywhere," she writes in one hint.
Elsewhere in the "Shouts & Murmurs" column, she reveals the essay's subject is "judgmental about the food I serve him."
"This is because he comes from a culture in which mothers focus every ounce of their attention on their offspring and don't acknowledge their own need for independence as women," she writes.
"They are sucked dry by their children, who ultimately leave them as soon as they find suitable mates."
In lighter moments, the essay jokes, "I have more Instagram followers than he does," and, "He hates our upstairs neighbor Beverly and refuses to acknowledge her in the elevator, even if she tells him that she likes his haircut."
Both Dunham and her boyfriend, Fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff, are Jewish, as is The New Yorker's top editor, David Remnick.
In a response Friday, Abraham Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, called Dunham out for trotting out tired Jewish stereotypes and said the ADL was "surprised" the magazine chose to print it.
"Some will certainly find Lena Dunham's stereotypes about cheap Jews offensive. Others will take issue with the very idea of comparing a dog and a Jewish boyfriend," Foxman wrote.
"The piece is particularly troubling because it evokes memories of the 'No Jews or Dogs Allowed' signs from our own early history in this country, and also because, in a much more sinister way, many in the Muslim world today hatefully refer to Jews as 'dogs,'" Foxman said.
"We doubt that Ms. Dunham had any intention of evoking such comparisons," Foxman added. "While we understand that humor is its own special brand of expression and always try to give leeway to comedians, we wish that she had chosen another, less insensitive way to publicly reflect on her boyfriend’s virtues and vices."
The piece was also causing rancor on Twitter, where some accused her of being anti-Semitic.
“As a big fan I'm deeply disappointed/appalled by your @NewYorker piece. #antisemitism,” one wrote.
“Have been a fan of @lenadunham & @girlsHBO for years...until now. This is disgusting,” another said.
New Yorker editor David Remnick defended Dunham against the criticism, arguing that her essay was similar to the works of other comedians.
"The Jewish-comic tradition is rich with the mockery of, and playing with, stereotypes," he said in a statement to the Daily News.
"Anyone who has ever heard Lenny Bruce or Larry David or Sarah Silverman or who has read 'Portnoy's Complaint' knows that. Lena Dunham, who is Jewish and hugely talented, is a comic voice working in that vein.
"Richard Pryor and Chris Rock do the same about black stereotypes; Amy Schumer does it with women and gender. I don't mind if one reader or another didn't find the piece funny. People can differ on that.
"But considering all the real hatred and tragedy in the world, the people getting exercised about the so-called anti-Semitism of this comic piece, like those who railed at Philip Roth a generation or two ago, are, with respect, howling in the wrong direction."
A rep for Dunham said she had no comment on the article.
Lena Dunham has become the new Helen Thomas. No pictures please!
she is so very reprehensible
Can we please be spared from this Witch?
Dunham is a bow-wow.
Hey, she’s a comedian — she’s not in the business to entertain people or make them laugh. Her job is to offend people and be “edgy”. That’s what comedians do.
“...Lena Dunham, who is Jewish and hugely talented...”
They’re batting .500 with that statement.
She could get away with it if it were funny. Problem is, it’s not.
if not for tastelessness, she’d have nothing at all
Lena Dunham, who i know nothing about, except when her name is mentioned, in an offhand manner, by my favorite morning radio syndicated program, NOT from New York, must be starving for attention and publicity.
Yet, if this is the extent of that grey matter between her ears, using the poet Browning’s formula, i.e., measure your mind’s height by the shadow it casts, an ant does better.
Ask HBO.
ISIS is hacking people’s heads off, the US is about to ratify Iran as a member of the nuclear club, Russia is on the march in the Ukraine, the US national debt is out of control and we care about some idiotic column by an overrated child of privilege?
Actually, about .660 if you take out the “ly” and “talented.”
Hard to believe the guy’s own hand isn’t better than resorting to date Lena Dunham.
A dog loves you no matter what.
/johnny
“Dog” describes her perfectly
.666
The only salient fact I know about Dunham from people who suffered through reading her book, is that an entire chapter in her “memoirs” is spent whining about her “miserable” job working 10-4 at a children’s clothing boutique (that had approx. two to three customers per day) with a 30 minute, three course, free lunch break, a job which paid “only” $100 dollars (in cash!) a day.
No sympathies here.
just think the idiot Foxman has been directing his fire at conservatives all this time.
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