Lena Dunham Called Paul Ryan to Protest Steve Bannon’s Appointment
Check your voicemail, Paul Ryan. There’s a timely, heartfelt plea from one Lena Dunham.
The “Girls” star posted an Instagram video of herself leaving a message for Ryan yesterday, pushing back against Donald Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon, formerly executive chairman of the far-right news site Breitbart News, as his chief strategist.
“I’m not sure you’re really going to listen to this,” she said. “But I hope you do, because I want to let you know that as a woman, as a Jew, as a person who cares about other human beings, people of color, the idea of appointing an anti-Semitic white supremacist…”
The machine then cut off.
Dunham, who was a vocal Hillary Clinton supporter, has nixed her original statement that she would move to Canada if Trump won the presidential election. Instead, she said, she chooses to stay and fight.
“I will go many places during my lifetime, surrounded by kindreds on a mission to spread justice and light. I can’t wait for all of this, and for the change to come, as we use what we’ve been given to protect those who can’t protect themselves,” Dunham wrote in an Instagram post on Friday. “What are you living for?”
And for those irked that she’s not following through on her promise to head to the Great White North? Dunham has some choice words for you.
“For those demanding I move to Canada based on something I said when this man seemed like a steak salesman with a long shot at the presidency: stay busy reveling in your new regime,” she wrote.
Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @theakglassman.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30