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Lena Dunham apologizes for joke about NFL's Odell Beckham Jr.

By Samantha Crook and Newsy
FILE - In this March 8, 2015, file photo, Lena Dunham arrives at the 32nd Annual Paleyfest : "Girls" held at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
By Samantha Crook and Newsy

Lena Dunham apologized after an attempted joke about her appearance was seen as a racist insult about an NFL star.

During an interview with Amy Schumer, Dunham mentioned she felt ignored while sitting next to New York Giants player Odell Beckham Jr. at the Met Gala. Dunham said the athlete slighted her because he didn't find her attractive.

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Dunham's comments were seen by some as her having racist expectations that black men should pay attention to her on her terms. And she focused on race in her Instagram apology.

View this post on Instagram

I owe Odell Beckham Jr an apology. Despite my moments of bravado, I struggle at industry events (and in life) with the sense that I don't rep 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. But I went ahead and projected these insecurities and made totally narcissistic assumptions about what he was thinking, then presented those assumptions as facts. I feel terrible about it. Because after listening to lots of valid criticism, I see how unfair it is to ascribe misogynistic thoughts to someone I don't know AT ALL. Like, we have never met, I have no idea the kind of day he's having or what his truth is. But most importantly, I would never intentionally contribute to a long and often violent history of the over-sexualization 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. Much love and thanks, Lena

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on

In the post, she called her assumptions about what Beckham was thinking "narcissistic" and apologized for presenting them as fact.

She wrote: "I see how unfair it is to ascribe misogynistic thoughts to someone I don't know AT ALL. ... I would never intentionally contribute to a long and often violent history of the over-sexualization of black male bodies- as well as false accusations by white women towards black men."

Beckham hasn't publicly responded to the situation.

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