Lena Dunham, filmmaker and creator of HBO hit Girls, got into some trouble when she tweeted a joke about going for Halloween with two friends as murderer Paul Bernardo, Karla Homolka and her slain sister.


Lena Dunham
You guys go as killer Canadian couple Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka. I'll be her sister they murdered. Scariest! Luv U

The tweet was directed at fellow comedians Mindy Kaling and B. J. Novak who had initially joked that maybe they should as the West Memphis Three, a trio of teenagers who many believe were wrongly convicted of murdering three boys in the mid 1990s.

"You guys go as killer Canadian couple Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka. I'll be her sister they murdered. Scariest! Luv U," she tweeted.

UPDATE: Lena Dunham apologized for her Paul Bernardo tweet early on Thursday morning.

"The boundaries of comedy are complicated and I'm learning twitter isn't the place to explain or even test them," she wrote.

"Obviously didn't understand what a painful part of the Canadian identity the Bernardo/Homolka case was. Saw a TV movie w/ Laura Prepon," she added.

"Part of the reason I was so concerned is that I've always dreamed of retiring to Canada #Canadaphile," she also wrote.


Lena Dunham
Obviously didn't understand what a painful part of the Canadian identity the Bernardo/Homolka case was. Saw a TV movie w/ Laura Prepon.

Dunham also responded to a number of Canadians who thought her comment was in poor taste.


Lena Dunham
Didn't understand that-- we've had more serial killers here maybe, so joke about them more?

Dunham's initial 'joke' wasn't taken well by many Canadians who felt that she had crossed a line.


heather
.@lenadunham your tweet about the murders committed by Homolka and Bernardo is disgusting. I knew one of the victims and you're way offside.


CaylenD
what happened to those girls is still very present in the minds of Ontarians/Canadians

"I think the families would be extremely hurt and disturbed by this action," Canadian lawyer Tim Danson told the Toronto Star. Danson represented the families of Bernardo's victims in court.

Blogger Kat Armstrong also writes about how she was offended by Dunham's tweet.

"My husband grew up in Niagara region during the time that Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy were killed and the tone in which Niagara families speak of these crimes is still one of hurt and confusion, 20 years later," she writes on her Celebretease blog.