Donald Glover used his speech at this past weekend’s Writers Guild Awards show to joke about Girls creator Lena Dunham and actor Chevy Chase throwing the N-word around pretty casually. And based on the latest reports, the claims surrounding one of Glover’s targets might actually be true.
Glover was at Sunday’s event to present Paul Simms, executive producer of Glover’s acclaimed series Atlanta, with the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence. But the 39-year-old multihyphenate also told a story about an alleged exchange with Dunham in the past. “I asked Lena, ‘Yo, what made you decide to work with Paul [on Girls]?’” he said. “And she goes, ‘Honestly, this n— lets me do whatever I want.’”
As the audience at NYC’s Edison Ballroom laughed awkwardly, Glover shared what allegedly went through his own mind at the the time. “I remember thinking two things,” he continued. “One, Lena is using the N-word extremely liberally. Who does she think she is, Chevy Chase? And two, [Simms is] the kind of producer I want.”
Although the Awaken My Love! performer might have thought his comment was funny, Lena Dunham apparently did not. “Donald Glover told a joke referencing Lena Dunham for last night’s WGA Awards,” a rep for the actress told Los Angeles Times the next day. “It included, for effect, language Lena never used, nor would use. Full stop.” And to her a credit, one of Glover’s reps also reached out to the LA Times and confirmed his supposed convo with her was made up.
However, the other target of Glover’s wisecracks was not so quickly absolved of using the N-word himself. In fact, the subtle digs made at veteran actor Chevy Chase may have reopened some old wounds between him and Glover.
Five years ago, writer and producer Dan Harmon spoke with The New Yorker about some of the racist and distasteful language Chase threw Glover’s way during their…
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