Lena Dunham has laid into Kanye West, over his controversial ‘Famous’ music video.
The video was unveiled over the weekend, and shows Kanye lying naked in bed with a host of other nude celebrities, most of whom have been recreated in wax form, including Taylor Swift, Donald Trump, Bill Cosby and his wife, Kim Kardashian.
Sharing her thoughts on Facebook, Lena has shared her view on the video, suggesting it is both derogotary to the women featured and inappropriate at a time when sexual violence against women is prevalent in society.
She writes:
“At the same time Brock Turner is getting off with a light tap for raping an unconscious woman and photographing her breasts for a group chat... As assaults are Periscoped across the web... While Bill Cosby's crimes are still being uncovered and understood as traumas for the women he assaulted but also massive bruises to our national consciousness...
“Now I have to see the prone, unconscious, waxy bodies of famous women, twisted like they've been drugged and chucked aside at a rager? It gives me such a sickening sense of dis-ease.”
Lena explains that while she has an understanding and appreciation of the art world thanks to her parents’ influence on her, Kanye’s video simply makes her “feel sad and unsafe and worried for teenage girls”.
She continues:
“I know that there's a hipper or cooler reaction to have than the one I'm currently having. But guess what? I don't have a hip cool reaction, because seeing a woman I love like Taylor Swift (fuck that one hurt to look at, I couldn't look), a woman I admire like Rihanna or Anna [Wintour], reduced to a pair of waxy breasts made by some special effects guy in the Valley, it makes me feel sad and unsafe and worried for the teenage girls who watch this and may not understand that grainy roving camera as the stuff of snuff films.
“I hesitated a lot about saying anything cuz I figured the thinkpieces would come pouring in. But I didn't see this angle being explored as much as I had hoped. It's weird to feel like you're watching alone. I bet I'm not.”
Read Lena’s full comment on her Facebook page.
Kanye has offered limited insight into what inspired the video, simply telling Vanity Fair: “It’s not in support or anti any of [the celebrities featured]. It’s a comment on fame.”
He’s also sent a bold message on social media to any of the famous people upset that their likeness was used in the video, tweeting (and swiftly deleting) that they could “sue him” if they had a problem.