Lena Dunham Blasted for Anti-Semetic 'Dog or Jewish boyfriend' Article in The New Yorker

Lena Dunham came under fire on Friday for an article published in the New Yorker that Jewish groups are calling "tasteless" and "offensive," while the magazine has decided to stand by its decision to print the issue.

The "Girls" star has come under fire for penning an article in The New Yorker titled "Dog or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz."

The piece, which ran in the March 30th issue, asks, "Do the following statements refer to (a) my dog or (b) my Jewish boyfriend?"

The quiz asks readers to guess which of the two Dunham is referring to in each of 35 descriptive statements.

"He doesn't tip," Dunham writes. "And he never brings his wallet anywhere."

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League, the world's preeminent Jewish advocacy group, said that while humor is subjective, Dunham's article missed the mark.

"The piece is particularly troubling because it evokes memories of the 'No Jews or Dogs Allowed' signs from our own early history in this country, and also because, in a much more sinister way, many in the Muslim world today hatefully refer to Jews as 'dogs,'" ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said in a statement.

"While we understand that humor is its own special brand of expression and always try to give leeway to comedians, we wish that she had chosen another, less insensitive way to publicly reflect on her boyfriend's virtues and vices," Foxman added, saying the article "plays with offensive stereotypes" about Jews.

The article drew further criticism. Jordana Horn wrote in Kveller, "I suppose Lena Dunham feels that she has some sort of humor EZ Pass, and The New Yorker has indulged her in that thinking. You know, because apparently Jews are a group you can make fun of ..."

She goes on to write, "imagine this same essay entitled, 'Dog or Black Boyfriend? A Quiz.'  Much easier to imagine that essay running in a Ku Klux Klan newsletter than The New Yorker, am I right? But somehow, a piece like this running in The New Yorker in 2015 is supposed to be OK with us."

The article appears in the magazine's March 30 issue.