Lena Dunham Says She's "Nauseated" by Woody Allen
On Marc Maron's WTF podcast on Monday, Lena Dunham—unlike many in Hollywood—reiterated her support for Woody Allen's daughter Dylan Farrow: "In the latest Woody Allen debate I'm decidedly pro-Dylan Farrow and decidedly disgusted with Woody Allen's behavior."
And in quite possibly her ballsiest move yet, Dunham also announced that Allen's movies have gotten "really bad."
But while Dunham insists she's "nauseated" by Allen "the person," she said she doesn't understand why people are responding to the abuse allegations by looking at Allen's work:
But for me, when people go through his work and comb through it for references to child molestation, that's not the fucking point.
According to Dunham, she's not comfortable using art to "convict people of crimes":
I think that you can decide that you don't want to support the work of somebody who has molested a child. That's a completely appropriate choice. But going through it and saying, look, he's told us in 57 ways that he rapes kids — that's not the thing. The thing is to look at the actual evidence that exists in the world, which I think strongly suggests that Woody Allen is in the wrong. But for me the point is not to go through his one-act plays looking for references to child molestation. Because I'm not comfortable living in a world where art is part of how we convict people of crimes."
The 27-year-old actress then pointed out that it's possible to love Allen's films and still believe he's capable of molestation:
People who really believe Woody Allen is guilty have not felt comfortable saying that. Because they're so afraid to lose their connection to his work. And the thing is, I feel like people need to understand that you can hold two positions in your mind. You can know that someone's made work that's meaningful to you and also know that they have most likely molested their daughter… I was so unimpressed by people's inability to think in less binary ways and to just experience the ambiguity that life is constantly offering up.
Lest you think Dunham sounds reasonable and refreshing here and you feel yourself starting to like her, don't worry. She also shared how many photographs her mother has housed at the MoMA, admitted she uses her boyfriend's songs on Girls so they can both benefit financially, and talked a lot about barfing. Some things never change.
