The Life

Lena Dunham Didn’t Respect The Odell Beckham Jr. Curve

Odell Beckham Jr. found himself at the center of an entitlement and sexual projection battle on Twitter Friday after excerpts from an interview with actress Lena Dunham were spread to the internets.

According to Daily Mail, Dunham said in an interview with comedian and actress Amy Schumer, that while the two were seated at a table together during the MetGala last May, Beckham ignored her all night. Instead of chatting, she said the Giants wide receiver scrolled through Instagram the whole time.

‘I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards.

‘He was like, “That’s a marshmallow. That’s a child. That’s a dog.” It wasn’t mean — he just seemed confused.’

‘The vibe was very much like, “Do I want to f*** it? Is it wearing a … yep, it’s wearing a tuxedo. I’m going to go back to my cell phone.”

‘It was like we were forced to be together, and he literally was scrolling Instagram rather than have to look at a woman in a bow tie.

‘I was like, “This should be called the Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes.”

Some took Dunham’s comments to be yet another example of “white entitlement.” As in Lena was truly offended or expected Odell to be smitten with her. I say those people have probably never watched an episode of her HBO show Girls. A lot of her humor is self depreciating. Lena took to Twitter to give the interview some context.

Dunham has since issued an apology to Beckham on her Instagram page.

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 (I don’t know a lot of things) and I shouldn’t have acted like I did. Much love and thanks, Lena

Lena also wanted you to know that she and actor Michael B. Jordan are cool too.

Head to page 2 if you’re curious about Lena’s look the night of the Met Gala

Odell’s look that evening.

Staff