Sarah Palin calls Lena Dunham a 'pedophile' in wake of Duggar family controversy
Sarah Palin believes Josh Duggar fondling five young girls — including four of his sisters — when he was a teenager should be viewed in the same light as actress Lena Dunham exploring her childhood sexuality with her younger sister.
“I’m not defending the Duggar boy’s obvious wrongdoing over a decade ago,” Palin wrote on Facebook. “The main victim in any story like this isn’t the perpetrator, it’s the innocent ones so harmfully affected. I’m not an apologist for any sexual predator, but I’m sickened that the media gives their chosen ones a pass for any behavior as long as they share their leftwing politics.”
“Case in point,” Palin continued, “they suggest Lena Dunham’s sexual assault on her sibling is cute, and she’s rewarded for it with fame and fortune. Meanwhile, they crucify another, along with an entire family.”
In her memoir Not That Kind of Girl, Dunham wrote about both trying to force her younger sister to kiss her and an instance in which the actress peeked into her sibling’s vagina.
“HEY LENA, WHY NOT LAUGH OFF EVERYONE’S SEXUAL ‘EXPERIMENTS’ AS YOU HAUGHTILY ENJOY REWARDS FOR YOUR OWN PERVERSION? YOU PEDOPHILE, YOU,” Palin wrote in the opening of her post.
Last year, following allegations that she sexually assaulter her sister, Dunham wrote that she simply told “a story about being a weird 7-year-old,” and that her words had been twisted.
I told a story about being a weird 7 year old. I bet you have some too, old men, that I'd rather not hear. And yes, this is a rage spiral.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 1, 2014
But Palin believes Dunham and the Duggars’ situations have been treated so differently because of where each stands politically: “The media’s hell-bent mission to go after the entire Duggar family for one member’s wrongdoing, while giving a total pass to perverted actions of someone like Lena Dunham—or any other leftwinger celeb caught doing awful things.”
Palin’s daughter Bristol shared a similar opinion in a blog post Thursday, saying the media is going crazy over the Duggar family compared to the “big fat yawn they gave Lena Dunham when she wrote in her book that she sexually experimented with her sister.” Bristol admits that Josh touching his younger sisters is “a terrible thing to do,” but questioned the reality star being labeled as a pedophile and the scrutiny his family has come under. “Liberals in today’s media can do no wrong, while conservatives can do no right,” she wrote.
In an interview with Fox News, Duggar’s sister, Jessa Seewald, made similar comments. The 22-year-old said her brother’s actions were “very wrong,” but that he shouldn’t be called a pedophile or rapist. “I’m like, that is so overboard and a lie really. I mean, people get mad at me for saying that, but I can say this because I was one of the victims,” Seewald said.
“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends,” Duggar said in a statement last month, after the molestation allegations were revealed. “I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life.”
