The attorney of the man now famously dubbed “Barry One” ripped Lena Dunham and her memoir’s publisher, Random House, in a statement to select press outlets on Tuesday. In the email, Aaron Minc stated that he is “disappointed and troubled” for a variety of reasons, including Dunham’s “unfathomable” silence over the matter, which saw his client — Barry — seemingly accused of raping the actress.
Minc claims that he has been contacting Dunham and Random House since Oct. 6, “seeking an apology and exoneration.” He has still not received either, and re-upped his demand Tuesday for an expression of regret by the “Girls” actress. Minc also stated that the apology from her publisher Random House, which was exclusive to TheWrap, was insufficient.
“Random House seems to think ‘(we) regret the confusion’ is a real apology,” he said. “We disagree.”
“Our repeated pleas to handle this quietly and with dignity were met with indifference,” Minc wrote to press covering the matter. “It wasn’t until more than $20,000 was raised for Barry’s legal fund … that Random House responded yesterday.”
Minc said that they will take Random House up on their offer to cover “Barry One’s” legal fees, which he warned are continuing to climb. The attorney said that they will continue the current gofundme campaign to both cover his client’s legal fees moving forward and benefit survivors of sexual assault.
“False rape accusations are a serious matter,” he continued. “Lena Dunham and Random House allowed an innocent man to remain under a suspicion of rape when they knew the truth.”
“We have yet to hear from Ms. Dunham, who is the only person with first-hand knowledge who can truly exonerate ‘Barry One’s’ reputation,” he added. “It is unfathomable to us that she remains silent.”
In her book, “Not That Kind of Girl,” Dunham identifies a man who she claims sexually assaulted her in college as a Republican named Barry. A Breitbart News investigation led the website to come up empty on a man fitting the very colorful additional description painted by Dunham, which included particulars such as a “flamboyant” mustache, a very deep voice and purple cowboy boots.
That said, some of the basics pointed toward Minc’s client, whose name is Barry and was a well-known Republican who attended liberal arts school Oberlin College at the time Dunham was a student there. Minc’s client says he never even met Dunham.
On Monday, Random House gave the following statement to TheWrap exclusively: “As indicated on the copyright page of ‘Not That Kind of Girl’ by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.”
The publisher continued: “We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.”