In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul Bond, Aaron Minc, attorney for the man Breitbart News calls “Barry One,” says that his client is “looking for something from Miss Dunham,” which almost certainly means a statement or apology of some kind directly from the woman who placed Barry One, a man she knew was innocent, under a cloud of suspicion as her alleged rapist.
As of now, in an exclusive to The Wrap’s Tony Maglio, Random House finally cleared Barry One’s name with the admission that Dunham did indeed use a pseudonym when identifying her mustachioed campus Republican rapist as “Barry.” The publishing giant has also agreed to pay any legal fees Barry One has incurred and alter future printings of the book to make it clear that the name “Barry” is a pseudonym.
Lena Dunham apparently wants us to believe this was all some kind of crazy coincidence. Yes, the real Barry One was a prominent Oberlin Republican who worked at one of the school libraries during Dunham’s time there. But when she described her alleged rapist as a prominent Oberlin Republican named Barry who worked at the school library, she didn’t mean him.
Dunham included a number of details in her memoir that didn’t point to Barry One (a flamboyant mustache, purple cowboy boots, etc.), but the Google-able details led anyone interested with five minutes on their hands directly to an innocent man.
Even if you take Dunham at her word on that, we now know for a fact that this powerful woman did nothing for more than six weeks after she knew her memoir cast suspicion on an innocent family man as her rapist. Moreover, Dunham stayed silent, even though she knew this man was living in fear that his last name might eventually be published.
On November 3, National Review’s Kevin Williamson published a profile of Dunham that included a short interview with Barry One. Williamson writes:
It takes me about two minutes to discover a Republican named Barry whose time at Oberlin coincided with Dunham’s. A few minutes later, I know a great deal about him: Where he works, where he lives, what he majored in, his high-school-prom plans, people we know in common, and other surprising intersections between our lives. When I call him at his office, I get the distinct impression that I am not the first reporter to have done so. “I don’t have anything to say about what I know you’re calling about,” he says. We speak very briefly, and he is concerned that I will use his name.
Dunham was aware of Williamson’s piece. Incredibly, rather than exonerate this man, Dunham took to twitter to attack Williamson.
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Dear @kmcdonovgh thank you for giving voice to what I could not say: http://t.co/zW9tiMPm6P
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) October 18, 2014
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And I have some news for certain “news” outlets. No matter how much you thump your keyboards with your meat hands we will not stop talking.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) October 18, 2014
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Lena Duhman knew.
Lena Dunham said nothing.
Instead, she let this poor man twist in the wind for more than six weeks until the threat of a lawsuit finally forced her People to do the right thing. Minc told THR that for two month he’s been asking Dunham’s representatives to clear his client’s name.
In front of the whole world, one of the most powerful and celebrated women in the country pulled the wings off a powerless, innocent man – power abusing the powerless in order to gain a little more power.
“Miss Dunham and Random House are starting to come around to some of our demands,” Aaron Minc told THR. [emphasis added]
Godspeed, Barry One.
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC