What Donald Glover told Lena Dunham after his 'Girls' appearance
Dunham says she wrote to Glover hoping he didn't feel 'tokenised' by his role
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Lena Dunham has said she wrote to Donald Glover over his role in Girls, in a recent profile where it was suggested his cameo may have been to “placate” those who criticised the show for its predominantly white cast.
Glover made a brief, two-episode appearance in the show’s second season as Sandy, Hannah’s black Republican boyfriend.
When she breaks up with him, he responds by mocking her white privilege: “Oh, I’m a white girl, and I moved to New York and I’m having a great time, and, Oh, I’ve got a fixed-gear bike, and I’m going to date a black guy and we’re going to go to a dangerous part of town”.
Dunham told the New Yorker that Glover improvised his lines and that “every massive insult of white women was one hundred per cent him.”
She also said she “e-mailed him later to say ‘I hope you feel the part on Girls didn’t tokenise you,’” and that Glover’s response “was really Donald-y and enigmatic: ‘Let’s not think back on mistakes we made in the past, let’s just focus on what lies in front of us.’”
Dunham praised Glover’s talent, telling the publication: “At least twenty people have told me, ‘I’d like to make something like [Glover’s hit show] Atlanta.’ And I say, ‘Oh, you mean a show that toggles between painful drama and super-surrealist David Lynch moments to take on race in America?’ That’s not a genre—that’s Donald.”
Glover stars in the upcoming second season of his acclaimed show Atlanta, named “Robbin’ Season” – a term which originated in Atlanta to describe the period leading up to Christmas when there’s a big spike in domestic robberies.
“People have gifts, have more stuff, and money,” writer Stephen Glover said recently.
“You might get your package stolen off your front porch. While we were there, my neighbour got her car stolen from her driveway.
“It’s a very tense and desperate time. Our characters are in a desperate transition from their old lives to where they’re headed now. And robbin’ season is a metaphor to where we are now.”
“Are you gonna eat or are you gonna be eaten?” Glover explained. “I think that’s something people don’t realise. Black people have to make a choice. That choice defines who you are. It’s hard.“
Atlanta: Robbin’ Season begins on 1 March on FX with a UK release date to follow
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