Lena Dunham has publicly apologised to Odell Beckham Jr.
The 30-year-old actress accused the 23-year-old basketball star of ignoring her because he did not find her attractive when they were seated at the same table at the Met Gala in May but she has now acknowledged that she had nothing to base this assumption on.
She wrote on Instagram: "I owe Odell Beckham Jr an apology. Despite my moments of bravado, I struggle at industry events (and in life) with the sense that I don’t rep a certain standard of beauty and so when I show up to the Met Ball surrounded by models and swan-like actresses it’s hard not to feel like a sack of flaming garbage. This felt especially intense with a handsome athlete as my dinner companion and a bunch of women I was sure he’d rather be seated with. But I went ahead and projected these insecurities and made totally narcissistic assumptions about what he was thinking, then presented those assumptions as facts.
"I feel terrible about it. Because after listening to lots of valid criticism, I see how unfair it is to ascribe misogynistic thoughts to someone I don’t know AT ALL. Like, we have never met, I have no idea the kind of day he’s having or what his truth is. But most importantly, I would never intentionally contribute to a long and often violent history of the over-sexualization of black male bodies – as well as false accusations by white women towards black men. I’m so sorry, particularly to OBJ, who has every right to be on his cell phone. The fact is I don’t know about his state of mind (I don’t know a lot of things) and I shouldn’t have acted like I did. Much love and thanks, Lena (sic)."
However, Lena’s apology only came after she first defended herself against the backlash, calling those critical of her the "outrage machine".
She tweeted: "Glad the outrage machine roars on though
"My story about him was clearly (to me) about my own insecurities as an average-bodied woman at a table of supermodels & athletes.
".@OBJ_3 is talented, stylish, seems super awesome and wasn’t into chatting with me at a fancy party (sic)."
But she had a change of heart after consulting with filmmaker Xavier Burgin and tweeted: "Thank you so much to @xlnb for taking time to share his wisdom on the issues blowing up my twitter. His generosity is radical & astounding (sic)."
Lena Dunham’s apology to Odell Beckham Jr
