Lena Dunham: Casting Donald Glover on GIRLS Wasn't 'A Reaction to Anyone'

By: Jan. 21, 2013
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In a recent interview with Vulture, Girls creator and star Lena Dunham shed some light on how she's responded (or not) to critics.

Following last night's episode, in which Hannah breaks up with her Republican boyfriend, Sandy (Donald Glover,) many assumed his casting was in reaction to critics claiming the show was just a bit too white.

"We cast Donald because of a love of his work," she told Vulture. Glover, as well as Dunham, decided to confront the criticism just a bit. "But having such a conscientious person with so many particular opinions on the topic, it seemed only correct that we should play around together on that."

That 'playing around' eventually segued into their exceptionally awkward break up.

"There was a script but we just went HAM on the script; I mean, we went crazy," she said. "The script was the basic arc of that conversation, and the improv was my weird Missy Elliot rap lyric and the moment where Donald goes on his diatribe and he's like, "I'm gonna get a fixed gear bike and I'm gonna date a black guy!" All that stuff. Donald raps a lot about his relationship to being like a hipster black guy and the fact that he's been in like a very white comedy scene and a very white like indie music scene - he has that lyric about being the only black guy at the Sufjan Stevens show - so he had a lot to say on the topic."

But Dunham wants viewers to know Hannah didn't leave Sandy because of his beliefs - it was mainly because of Hannah.

"Hannah acts like she has a political issue with him, but what she actually has an issue with is him disliking what she does. Because she feels like she should receive universal praise, and the fact that someone's sleeping with her should also mean that they respect her prose style."

Click here to read the original report.

For last night's BWW TV World recap of GIRLS, click here.



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