Lena Duhman responds the furor over Lisa Lampanelli's racist tweet. But should she have to?

Lena Dunham finally responded to the uproar that comedian Lisa Lampanelli caused last week when she tweeted a picture of the two of them, referring to Dunham as "my n---." In a series of tweets made to writer, Shayla Pierce , who called Dunham out on it, she said:

That's not a word I would EVER use. Its implications are beyond my comprehension. I was made supremely uncomfortable by it. 

Perhaps I should have addressed it, but the fact is I've learned that twitter debates breed more twitter debates. 

Don't like the idea that my silence read to you as tacit approval. It wasn't. 

But 140 characters will never be enough for the kind of dialogue that will actually help us address issues of race and class. 

My personal criteria for engaging twitter debate: I wait until something just sits so wrong in my belly & bones that I must finally speak.

I agree with Jezebel's Madeline Davis, whom I linked here: I believe Dunham is being sincere, if incredibly naive.  If Twitter isn't the proper platform for discussing race, she has this thing called a television show which is a fantastic vehicle for talking about race and racism.  I also think she's been unfairly vilified for this. She herself didn't send the tweet, and there's no reason to think that she needs to apologize for it. (Lisa Lampanelli should, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.) Granted, few people are calling for her to apologize, but given Girls' lack of diversity, it was crucial that she condemn Lampanelli's use of the slur.