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Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer
In a Lenny Letter interview, the 'Girls' creator also revealed that the 'Inside Amy Schumer' star and 'Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo' author auditioned for the role of Shoshanna on the HBO series.
"If there’s scandals, can’t they be about me?" Amy Schumer asked Lena Dunham in a wide-ranging interview for the Girls creator's Lenny Letter that came out on Friday.
Dunham interviewed her friend, the Inside Amy Schumer comedian, via Skype for a Q&A that touched on "plus-size" labels ("The media body-shames women of healthy, normal sizes," said Schumer), their mutual discomfort at the Met Ball, Schumer's new book and the Comedy Central star being dragged into a recent controversy with one of the writers on her series.
The writer, Kurt Metzger, went viral over his offensive comments mocking rape accusers, and fans looked to Schumer for answers about his behavior.
"First I was like, f— Kurt," said the Trainwreck star. "It’s been years that he’s been doing this. He’s one of those guys, like a lot of the guys that I’m friends with, who are degenerates. Kurt was saying this awful stuff, and in previous years, I would be like, 'You’ve got to shut up.' He’d be like, 'All right.'"
She continued, "This time, it was just so bad. But also, why are these women treating him like he raped someone? He’s not Bill Cosby; Kurt has never raped. What he was saying was horrific, and he was being a troll. He can be an internet troll. The fact that I had to answer for it … I was like, 'Ugh, why this week?' [Jokingly:] I was like, if there’s scandals, can’t they be about me?"
Schumer admitted that she understood the connection, being his employer, but found herself feeling resentful that she hadn't earned enough trust from her fans.
“Have I earned any good will with you guys?" she said. "Do you believe that I feel that rape victims should be shamed on the internet? Have I built up any sort of good will?"
She added, "Can we focus on the rapists? What about the guy actually raping? How about that guy?"
Dunham also asked Schumer about her book, The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo, and the chapter detailing the 2015 movie-theater shooting at a screening for Trainwreck that left two women dead.
"Knowing it was my movie, and … that they went and they bought tickets and wanted to go see this movie, it just crushed me," she said about victims Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson. "I felt so powerless."
Saying she was "f—ing f—ed up by it," she admitted that she wanted to fly to the family, but worried that they wouldn't want to see her right away.
She then credited pal Jennifer Lawrence for helping her climb out of the rabbit hole: "That day she texted me, 'It’s your fault.' And in times like that only jokes make you feel a little better."
The pair also spoke about their mutual support for Hillary Clinton and Dunham revealed that Schumer had auditioned for the role of Shoshanna (played by Zosia Mamet) on Girls six years ago.
"When she left the room, the vibe was very 'Someone give that lady a show, STAT!'" Dunham wrote.
Read the full interview here.
Inside Amy Schumer
