Over Labour Day weekend, Lena Dunham was slammed for her presumptive and prejudiced remarks about Odell Beckham Jr. during a chat between herself and friend Amy Schumer. Dunham has since apologised for saying that Beckham was uninterested in talking to her because he was turned off by her body type and outfit. But now, it's Schumer who is in hot water.
The comedian is receiving criticism for posting — and quickly deleting — a racist tweet on Sept. 2. Paulo L. dos Santos, an economics professor at the New School, tweeted the following in the wake of Dunham's interview controversy: "Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, et. al. refuse 2C that misogyny among men of color, while hideously prevalent, is no more so than among white men." Schumer replied, "how would you know? Statistically who is hollerin at you in the street more pa?"
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Although she deleted the tweet shortly after, enough screenshots were captured and shared to provoke a backlash on Twitter — and rightfully so. Implicit in Schumer's tweet is the thought that men of colour catcall women more often than white men. Her generalisation is leading people to label the actress racist, ignorant, and hypocritical.
This isn't the first time that Schumer has been accused of racism. Many people find material in her stand-up routine to be insensitive at best and flagrantly racist at worst. Last year, a Washington Post op-ed calling Schumer out for racist jokes about Latinos explained that her "disparaging jokes provide a safe vehicle to share stereotypes, release inhibitions and spread racism." In a response to the outrage she dismissed her comments as jokes. It looks like this time, Schumer realised her words were inflammatory — just a little too late.
Amy Schumer is a racist and has neverrrr been funny. Done. https://t.co/i1jORleuE2
— RIP #KorrynGaines (@meowsauce_) September 3, 2016
Amy Schumer is in fact a racist. But we knew that and white women don't care. pic.twitter.com/rSxneP8r1v
— nf (@Lstblkgrl) September 3, 2016
.@amyschumer calls out Trump & friends 4 being racist & then thinks it's okay to make generalizations like this pic.twitter.com/QnOsFYWiH7
— Alfe Azad (@alfeazad) September 4, 2016
RT @_thalula_: Amy Schumer.
— Stepha (@StephanyGeoffr1) September 6, 2016
-loves to make racist jokes.
-doesnt believe in a race gap.
-queen of internalized misogy https://t
@amyschumer you're a racist! You can delete your tweet, but we already saw it.
— Ebony J (@ebony___j) September 6, 2016
Amy Schumer is in fact a racist. But we knew that and white women don't care. pic.twitter.com/rSxneP8r1v
— nf (@Lstblkgrl) September 3, 2016
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