Like any comedian, Lisa Lampanelli has made a name for herself by saying some of the most shocking and filthiest things. But, sometimes, comedians go too far and that was definitely the case this week, when Lampanelli called HBO “Girls” star Lena Dunham her “n—-” on Twitter.
“Me with my n—- @LenaDunham of@HBOGirls – I love this beyotch!!https://say.ly/oKP5chO ,” Lampanelli tweeted on Sunday, along with a photo of the two together.
As expected, Lampanelli’s use of the N-word ignited a firestorm of attacks from angry fans and outlets who deemed the self-proclaimed “queen of mean” comic insensitive and racist.
“Yeah, no. You still don’t get to say that. I know your privilege tells you otherwise,” tweeted @mazzie.
Throughout Tuesday, Lampanelli retweeted fans that were defending her and she also defended herself, saying that her use of the word was well within the bounds of comedy.
“Glad 2 have given u something other than Alec Baldwin to talk about on my day off! Loving & laughing at it all! Thanks, Twitterverse!” she tweeted yesterday.
Obviously, we could go into a drawn out explanation of how Lampanelli’s delusional sense of privilege when it comes to race, social power and language are utterly ignorant and offensive, but we’ll just quote Laura Beck of Jezebel who put it all so beautifully and succinctly.
“Her psuedo provocative act is tiring, and this is really, really not OK. No matter how many times she talks about how she slept with a black man, the n-word is still off-limits. Let me try to put this in terms she might understand — it’s like how if you f— a fourth-tier Kennedy, you don’t just get to start showing up at Hyannis Port. It’s something you’re born into,” Beck wrote.
And last time we checked, Lampanelli’s melanin count hadn’t changed and she hadn’t received any imaginary “black card” either. But hey, cutesy hipster racism is the new black, right?
Unfortunately, Lampanelli isn’t the only white celebrity who has crossed the line by using a racial epithet. Check out some other offenders below. – nicholas robinson
