As we reported over the weekend, Lena Dunham’s account of being sexually assaulted by a Republican student at Oberlin is the other collapsing campus rape story.New details are emerging which cast a longer shadow of doubt over Dunham’s claims.According to a new report from Paul Bond of the Hollywood Reporter, Dunham’s publisher is going to alter the language in her book:
Publisher to Alter Lena Dunham Book After Rape Story Questioned, Attorney SaysThe publisher of Lena Dunham‘s book, Not That Kind of Girl, will tweak a passage where the star and creator of the Girls TV show describes how she was raped in college by a Republican named “Barry,” an attorney for the man told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday.Attorney Aaron Minc said he has been in contact with Dunham’s lawyers at Ziffren Brittenham in Los Angeles who assure him that future printings of the book, subtitled “A young woman tells you what she’s ‘learned,’ ” will come with a disclaimer that “Barry” is not the real name of the man who raped Dunham when the two were students at Oberlin College a decade ago.
In an even more explosive development, Random House has offered to pay the legal fees for the accused man known only as “Barry One.”
Random House Goes for Quick Payoff, Clears ‘Barry One’After two months of requests made through his attorney, the man Breitbart News identified as “Barry One” in an investigative report published last week has, at least, been exonerated by Lena Dunham’s publisher, Random House. The publishing giant didn’t apologize. Nor did Lena Dunham. Regrets were expressed over “the confusion.”In a statement released Monday to The Wrap that raises many more questions than it answers, Random House finally admits: “The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion.”“As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym,” the publisher told TheWrap exclusively. “Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.”“We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date,” the company continued. “Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.”
Eugene Volokh of the Washington Post notes that this is a legal nightmare of Dunham’s own making:
Lena Dunham’s publisher says her alleged rapist “Barry” wasn’t actually named BarryTheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:
As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.
Appalling. The book wasn’t a novel; it was a memoir, offered to readers as such. The copyright page, which I suspect few people read, does say that “Some names and identifying details have been changed,” but it certainly doesn’t tell people which ones.
Twitchy has compiled a series of tweets from John Nolte which reinforce the new questions being raised:
One thing is sure… This story is far from over.
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