Lena Dunham vows to ‘sit down’ and ‘shut up’ in post about her own privilege

‘The Hollywood system is rigged in favour of white people,' tweeted the actor and writer

Lena Dunham has written about her own privilege within the entertainment industry, saying that “the past ten years have been a series of lessons”.

The Girls star posted on Twitter after her name began trending yesterday (28 June), with many people suggesting that her family background facilitated her professional success.

Dunham’s parents are artists Carroll Dunham and Laurie Simmons.

She wrote: “Whenever I find out I’m trending, I have to immediately check if I’m alive! Then, I try and see if there’s a constructive dialogue to have on Twitter. Often there isn’t, but today there really WAS.

“It actually wasn’t a dialogue – it was just me agreeing that the Hollywood system is rigged in favour of white people and that my career took off at a young age with relative ease, ease I wasn’t able to recognise because I also didn’t know what privilege was.”

The actor and writer has sometimes been accused in the past of being oblivious to privilege. Girls, the Dunham-fronted HBO series that ran from 2012 to 2017, was frequently criticised for its lack of non-white characters.

On her Twitter page, Dunham continued: “The past ten years have been a series of lessons.

“The lesson now? Sit down. Shut up, unless it’s to advocate for change for Black people. Listen. Make art in private for awhile – no one needs your book right now lady. Give reparations widely. Defund the police. Rinse & repeat.”