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Actress Lena Dunham’s comments about NY Giants Wide Receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. sparked a backlash on social media and exposed the continued over-sexualization of Black men in our society.

During an interview with Amy Schumer, Dunham made the following comments:

I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards. He was like, “That’s a marshmallow. That’s a child. That’s a dog.” It wasn’t mean — he just seemed confused.

The vibe was very much like, “Do I want to f*** it? Is it wearing a … yep, it’s wearing a tuxedo. I’m going to go back to my cell phone.” It was like we were forced to be together, and he literally was scrolling Instagram rather than have to look at a woman in a bow tie. I was like, “This should be called the Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes.”

After a swift smack down on social media, Dunham quickly apologized for her comments via Instagram.

Dr. Greg Carr, chairman of Africana Studies at Howard University, responded to the controversy during today’s edition of NewsOne Now, saying Dunham, Schumer, and others are always “constructing a person to fight against.”

Prior to that statement, Dr. Carr opined this faux pas “reminds us there is no intersection of race and gender at the heart of feminism.”

Amber J. Phillips, Co-Director of BLACK, believes there is an intersection where feminists can be both “oppressed and oppressor at the same time.” She added what Schumer and Dunham “need to understand is that until they take a step back and acknowledge their [white] privilege, they’re going to enact the same kind of violence and the same kind of prejudice that is enacted on them for being women onto people of color.”

Barbara Arnwine, President and Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition, claimed the root of Dunham’s comments is far worse than imagined: “Because I’m a White woman, he (Odell Beckham, Jr.) ought to want me. If I’m a White woman he ought to want to rape me.”

Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discuss Lena Dunham’s controversial comments in the video clip above.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

Watch NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

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Activists Condemn Democratic Party Over Leaked BLM Memo

Are White Feminists Reinforcing Black Male Stereotypes?  was originally published on newsone.com