This is one of the things that’s cool about the current generation, there is more chopping up between people who come from different walks of life. Guaranteed that if a Lena Dunham type had existed ten years ago, she never would have been invited on “The Breakfast Club.” For sure, Charlamagne the God deserves some credit for that. His audience reach is much wider than “The Breakfast Club’s,” plus he is a fan of Dunham’s show “Girls,” which may sound odd, but stacks neatly on top of his fandom of the TV show “Girlfriends.”
In her visit, Dunham discussed a wide range of topics, starting with the need to have security, a concern that was shared by both Charlamagne and DJ Envy, who was involved in an attempted car jack last week. Both Charlamagne and Dunham agreed it’s not appropriate to make jokes about what happened to Kim Kardashian.
Dunham also talked about the end of her series, “Girls,” which will air its sixth and final season in February 2017. Charlamagne said he was a fan of the show, and Dunham said when he tweeted about the show, it was a big positive for viewership. They then debated the fact that”Girls” character Jessa has begun to date Adam on the show and whether or not that was okay from the perspective of girl code.
Naturally the conversation segued into sex, and Dunham said while she was promiscuous as a person in her young 20s, she’s more conservative in real-life than her “Girls” character. They also talked about body image and she added that being viewed as overweight, less attractive and not having a traditional body influenced her decision to show herself naked on the series because she wanted to rep for females who don’t have ideal appearances. Dunham also pointed out that while she is a feminist that doesn’t take away from her wish to be viewed as desirable.
At 26:42, Charlamagne addressed early criticism of “Girls” for lacking black characters and Dunham said while criticisms were valid, she thought it was more important for black women to be given the space to tell their own stories and in the future she would like to collaborate with women of color rather than co-opt their stories.
She also conceded white feminists don’t have have a good track record with supporting black women, adding that while white women may feel like an oppressed minority, there is another layer of issues black women have to deal with that white women sadly aren’t cognizant of.
Earlier this year Dunham got into trouble after attending the Met Ball when she complained in her “Lenny Letter” that table mate Odell Beckham had ignored her, assuming it was because she wasn’t attractive enough, and Charlamagne praised her for apologizing for what she wrote. Dunham said she realized she had unintentionally perpetuated dangerous stereotypes about black male behavior in saying what she did.
The interview closed with Dunham saying she has been attending therapy since seven. When she invited Charlamagne to join her, he said he wanted to try CBT aka cognitive behavior therapy because he believes he overthinks things.
