Lena Dunham is NOT down with R. Kelly, his history of predatory allegations, or his new album, entitled “Black Panties.” Lena recently took to the Twittersphere to speak her mind on the controversial R&B singer, and was subsequently labelled a “hypocrite” for her own personal and professional relationship with Terry Richardson–the fashion photographer with a fairly tainted sexual past.
R. Kelly has been making the media rounds lately with the promotion of his new hyper- sexual album, his music video with Lady Gaga, and “stomach-churning” accusations featured in the Village Voice.
In response to the R. Kelly hoopla, Lena released a series of tweets, “The debate about good and bad feminism makes me want to take a nap for a year,” followed by “Nothing pains me more than when something like the R. Kelly convo comes to light and women turn on each other.”
This all seems fairly normal given R. Kelly’s sordid past and everyday persona, but since Lena is considered by many a “modern day feminist,” it’s hard to hate on “the Kellz” when you sometimes hang with Terry Richardson, who has also been charged with sexual harassment. Richardson dated Audrey Gelman for three years (a close friend of Lena’s) and also photographed Dunham in a series ironically titled, “Girl Power.”
As critics continued to call out Lena, she continued to tweet:
“I never want to be didactic on twitter. I want to recognize how freaking complex it is to be female right now, aka VERY.”
“Anyone who thinks I was saying anything but that R. Kelly is a sickening criminal is reading selectively.”
“Someone implied my statement about R Kelly was invalid because I’ve had my photograph taken by Terry Richardson.”
“I responded asking that my feminism not be picked apart because of one PR experience. You don’t learn to say no overnight.”
“Any man who takes advantage of any woman sickens me. That’s all and that’s always. No debate.”
Amen to all said above, Lena. It is immensely hard to be a female right now, sexual assault is horrific, and it must be tough to be portrayed in the media for supporting an alleged harasser, and then calling out an alleged harasser.
If anyone (like me) finds R. Kelly just a tad bit entertaining, please watch the video below of the singer defending the language and imagery on “Black Panties.”
A snippet: “If you’re gonna talk to a woman musically or even if you in the club talkin’ to her, she don’t want you to be weak about it. She want you to say what’s on her mind and keep it real. And I take that and put it on an album.”
R. Kelly Defends New Sexually Graphic Album by AP-Entertainment
(Photo by Getty Images)