After Girls writer and executive producer Murray Miller was accused of sexual assault by actress Aurora Perrineau, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner issued a statement in support of their long-time co-worker, describing Perrineau’s accusation as “one of the 3 percent of assault cases that are misreported every year.” This prompted such outrage that Dunham and Konner issued a second statement apologizing for the first, and saying, “We regret this decision with every fiber of our being.” 
 
 Now, a writer for Dunham’s Lenny Letter is publicly walking away from the online publication, citing what she calls the writer-actress-producer-activist’s “well-known racism.” Author Zinzi Clemmons says that she has known Dunham since their college years, and that the two share overlapping social circles. During that time, Clemmons says she “avoided those people like the plague because of their racism,” adding, “I’d call their strain ‘hipster-racism,’ which typically uses sarcasm as a cover.” She cites her relationship with her editors as the reason she has stayed at Lenny until now, but says that Dunham’s reaction to the accusations made by Perrineau pushed her to leave the newsletter. “As a result of Lena Dunham’s statements, I have decided that I will no longer write for Lenny Letter. For all you writers who are outraged about what she did, I encourage you to do the same. Especially women of color.” You can read Clemmons’s full statement below via Twitter. 
 
 My statement on why I will no longer write for @lennyletter, and the behavior I witnessed firsthand from @lenadunham's friends. 
 
 
 
 It is time for women of color--black women in particular--to divest from Lena Dunham. pic.twitter.com/dxOWCLhTpA — zinziclemmons (@zinziclemmons) November 19, 2017 ||||| Writer Zinzi Clemmons, author of What We Lose, has announced that she will no longer be writing for Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s online feminist weekly newsletter Lenny Letter because, she says, of Dunham and her friends’ racism which was “well-known” prior to their fame. “She cannot have our words if she cannot respect us,” she writes. 
 
 
 
 Because let’s take a step back, says Clemmons. She’s currently in Nigeria at a literary festival hearing stories from women who are “putting themselves in danger every day to help women in some of the worst conditions on earth.” She reminds us to consider the 26 Nigerian girls who drowned last week while being sex trafficked off the coast of Italy. 
 
 With that in mind, here’s what she has to say about Dunham: 
 
 Jemima Kirke was in my year at RISD while I was at Brown [Ed note: the campus is next door]. We had many mutual acquaintances and still do. Most of these acquaintances were like Lena–wealthy, with parents who are influential in the art world. They had a lot of power and seemed to get off on simultaneously wielding it and denying it. Back in college, I avoided these people like the plague because of their well-known racism. I’d call their strain “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. In Lena’s circle, there was a girl who was known to use the N word in conversation in order to be provocative, and if she was ever called on it, she would say “it’s just a joke.” 
 
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 Clemmons adds that she was “horrified” to hear Aurora Perrineau’s accusation of sexual assault by Girls writer Murray Miller–which Dunham baselessly rejected–because it mirrored an assault a friend of hers experienced at the hands of another member of Lena’s circle. “I grew up middle class, with no family connections in the writing or art worlds, and my friend was from a similar background. We were powerless against them.” 
 
 Her takeaway is sobering and obvious but invariably, relentlessly upstaged. 
 
 
 
 Thank you. This is grounding. ||||| Lena Dunham. Photo: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images 
 
 One year after defending the Girls producer who was accused of rape, Lena Dunham finally issued a belated apology to the alleged victim in The Hollywood Reporter, calling her mishandling of the situation “a terrible mistake.” 
 
 While Dunham and Girls executive producer Jenni Konner expressed regret last November for coming to the defense of former producer Murray Miller, Dunham never personally apologized to actress Aurora Perrineau, who accused Miller of raping her in 2012 when she was 17 years old. (Miller has denied the allegations.) In her editor’s letter for The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment issue, which she guest edited, Dunham spoke directly to Perrineau. 
 
 “To Aurora: You have been on my mind and in my heart every day this year. I love you,” she wrote. “I will work to right that wrong. In that way, you have made me a better woman and a better feminist.” 
 
 Acknowledging that her original decision to defend Miller, someone she “had loved as a brother,” was a “terrible mistake,” she writes that she had previously “internalized the dominant male agenda that asks us to defend it no matter what, protect it not matter what.” Today, her job is “to excavate that part of myself to create a new cavern inside me where a candle stays lit, and illuminates the wall behind it where these words are written: ‘I see you, Aurora. I hear you, Aurora. I believe you, Aurora.’” 
 
 To conclude the apology, Dunham makes it about herself, preemptively addressing that she knows people will say she’s just trying to “curry public favor,” the which she says, “that’s okay, though, I stopped thinking that was an option for me somewhere around 2014, and that’s some kind of freedom.” 
 
 She continues, “I have the only women I want or need in my life” — which, coming from Dunham, makes sense. ||||| Lena Dunham has been criticized on social media after she released a statement defending Girls writer Murray Miller, who has been accused of sexual assault. 
 
 Actress Aurora Perrineau, daughter of Lost star Harold Perrineau, filed a police report on Friday, November 17, about an alleged 2012 rape when she was 17 years old. In her statement to TheWrap.com, Perrineau claimed she was attacked by Miller after a night of drinking, saying, “At some point, I woke up in Murray’s bed naked. He was on top of me having sexual intercourse with me. At no time did I consent to any sexual contact with Murray.” 
 
 Dunham and fellow Girls creator Jenni Konner responded to the allegations made against their former coworker by releasing a statement on Friday that read, “During the windfall of deeply necessary accusations over the last few months in Hollywood, we have been thrilled to see so many women’s voices heard and dark experiences in this industry justified. It’s a hugely important time of change and, like every feminist in Hollywood and beyond, we celebrate. But during every time of change there are also incidences of the culture, in its enthusiasm and zeal, taking down the wrong targets.” 
 
 They went on to defend Murray, continuing, “We believe, having worked closely with him for more than half a decade, that this is the case with Murray Miller. While our first instinct is to listen to every woman’s story, our insider knowledge of Murray’s situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the 3% of assault cases that are misreported every year. It is a true shame to add to that number, as outside of Hollywood women still struggle to be believed.” 
 
 “We stand by Murray and this is all we’ll be saying about this issue,” the statement concluded. 
 
 The Not That Kind of Girl author, 31, also wrote on Twitter, “I believe in a lot of things but the first tenet of my politics is to hold up the people who have held me up, who have filled my world with love.” 
 
 I believe in a lot of things but the first tenet of my politics is to hold up the people who have held me up, who have filled my world with love. — 💎 Lena Dunham 💎 (@lenadunham) November 17, 2017 
 
 Several fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment in the Girls star’s response, given her staunch stance on support for victims of sexual harassment and assault. 
 
 One Twitter user wrote, “Lena said one thing three months ago and has now changed her tune because her friend is being accused,” while another mocked the Lenny newsletter founder, tweeting, “Believe women, unless they say something about a friend of mine, in which case they are liars.” 
 
 "Believe women, unless they say something about a friend of mine, in which case they are liars." — Best Protect Ya 🦃 Neck (@xeronius) November 18, 2017 
 
 Another shared a screenshot of a tweet written by Dunham in August that said, “Things women do lie about: what they ate for lunch. Things women don’t lie about: rape.” 
 
 Dunham has been extremely vocal about Hollywood’s most recent sexual misconduct scandals involving producer Harvey Weinstein, directors James Toback and Brett Ratner, comedian Louis C.K., Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey and more on her social media accounts. 
 
 She posted on Twitter on November 1, “Being a teenage girl in NYC you knew about Toback. Young in Hollywood you were warned about Weinstein, Ratner and even Spacey. What’s happening isn’t news exactly. It’s what we all quietly understood and accepted being unmasked for what it is: a human rights issue. When things you knew but didn’t know you were allowed to talk about rise up, it hurts in a special way. Anger, relief, fear.” 
 
 1. Being a teenage girl in NYC you knew about Toback. Young in Hollywood you were warned about Weinstein, Ratner and even Spacey. — 💎 Lena Dunham 💎 (@lenadunham) November 2, 2017 
 
 3. When things you knew but didn't know you were allowed to talk about rise up, it hurts in a special way. Anger, relief, fear. — 💎 Lena Dunham 💎 (@lenadunham) November 2, 2017 
 
 5. If you're triggered, tired or just plain mad, this has been helping me to be compassionate to myself & others: https://t.co/qZPm2tOweZ — 💎 Lena Dunham 💎 (@lenadunham) November 2, 2017 
 
 Dunham also joked in October, “You will be shocked to learn I did not have any trouble delivering a monologue about the systemic abuse that comes with being a woman artist.” 
 
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– Lena Dunham caused a stir last week when she and Girls co-creator Jenni Konner issued a statement defending a Girls writer from allegations of sexual assault against a teen. She has since apologized, but that didn't appease one of the writers for her Lenny e-newsletter. Per Vulture, Zinzi Clemmons issued a statement Sunday announcing she'll no longer work for Lenny and that it's because of Dunham's "well-known racism," which she also dubs "hipster racism." Meaning, in Clemmons' words, that the offender "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?'" Clemmons explains she feels comfortable saying this about Dunham, as she's known her since they were both in college, when Dunham and her rich friends "had a lot of power and seemed to get off on simultaneously wielding it and denying it." Clemmons adds that someone close to her was "victimized" back then by "someone in Lena's circle" and that he "continues to move in those circles and has a powerful job." She says she stayed at Lenny only because she had a good relationship with the editors there, but that now "it is time for women of color—black women in particular—to divest from Lena Dunham." Jezebel points out a string of other tweets Clemmons posted on the subject, including calling Dunham's online apology a "half-assed attempt to cover your ass." Clemmons also doesn't seem fazed by her detractors. "To all the haters, harassers and abusers creeping into my timeline, remember this: I brought down a major celebrity and her publication with one Facebook post. Try me," she tweeted early Monday.