Lena Dunham has apologised to Odell Beckham Jr. following her scathing comments about him at the Met Gala.The 30-year-old made the disparaging remarks about the New York Giants wide receiver during an interview with Amy Schumer for Dunham's online Lenny Letter. The pair discussed how much they despised attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Costume Institute Gala in New York back in May (16), and Lena joked Beckham Jr. ignored her because he didn't find her sexually attractive. Lena, who wore a tuxedo to the ball and took Lenny Letter partner Jenni Konner as her date, said "The vibe was very much like, 'Do I want to f**k 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'," she joked. Lena said her critique of the American football player stemmed from her own insecurities, but has now issued a statement apologising to Odell and further explaining her comments. "I owe Odell Beckham Jr. an apology," the Girls director said in a post on Instagram on Saturday (03Sep16).
"Despite my moments of bravado, I struggle at industry events (and in life) with the sense that I don't rep (represent) 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," she continued. Pointing out her issues with her own self-confidence, she berated herself for making "narcissistic assumptions" about the football player, and admitted it was unfair to "ascribe misogynistic thoughts to someone I don't know at all."Touching on more serious issues, Lena said, "But most importantly, I would never intentionally contribute to a long and often violent history of the over-sexualisation 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."Lena had earlier tried to clarify her comments on Twitter on Friday (02Sep16), after receiving a vicious backlash on social media. She even directly tweeted the 23-year-old athlete, writing, "@OBJ_3 is talented, stylish, seems super awesome and wasn't into chatting with me at a fancy party."Odell Beckham Jr. has yet to comment.
