Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer's defense of Kurt Metzger’s rape jokes was a trainwreck

Impact

Last month, comedian Amy Schumer came under fire when Inside Amy Schumer writer Kurt Metzger made light of the sexual assault allegations against fellow comedian Aaron Glaser. 

"I am so saddened and disappointed in Kurt Metzger," Schumer wrote on Twitter at the time. "He is my friend and a great writer and I couldn't be more against his recent actions." 

But in an interview with Lena Dunham for the actress' feminist newsletter Lenny, Schumer backpedaled on any apologies she once had for Metzger's behavior — which included a Facebook post where he wrote, "If we ask [women] to even merely also post a vague account of what happened before asking us to believe that would be like re-raping their rape!"

"Why are these women treating him like he raped someone?" Schumer wondered. "He's not Bill Cosby; Kurt has never raped." 

She continued, "What he was saying was horrific, and he was being a troll. He can be an internet troll. The fact that I had to answer for it ... I was like, 'Ugh, why this week?'"

John Salangsang/AP

Dunham — who once said reading Gawker and Jezebel was like "going back to a husband who beat [her] in the face" — said she tended to agree with Schumer, and she thought people were too sensitive about words.

"The other thing that I get really crazy about is this new world in which women aren't just supposed to be protected from actions, they're supposed to be protected from language," said Dunham.

The Girls co-creater insisted that women are too strong to be bothered by the likes of Metzger's rape jokes. She, for example, managed to be "pretty chill" about her ovary "basically exploding" in her stomach twice, so what's a little victim-blaming? Man up, ladies.

"I'm not going to cry," Dunham said. "I'm a fucking queen."

Schumer and Dunham agreed that it'd be best to just forget about people like Metzger, who they deemed a mere "troll," and focus on rapists, the only real bad guys.

"Everyone's like, 'No, we want to focus on the guy who said the mean thing,'" Schumer said. "It's like, no, let's focus on protecting women from these situations and getting these rapists to stop the raping."

"No more raping," Dunham agreed.

Great work. Case closed!