Lena Dunham, who said she'd move to Canada if Donald Trump won, decides to stay in America

'It's easy to joke about moving to Canada,' actress concedes

Lena Dunham (Getty)

Lena Dunham has become the latest high-profile name to double back on her pledge of moving to Canada in the supposedly unlikely event Donald Trump became elected.

The Girls creator and actress was an ardent supporter and campaigner for Hillary Clinton, appearing at the Democrat National Convention and several rallies in swing states on her behalf. Following the result of the election, she described in her weekly Lenny newsletter how “as horrifying as I found Donald Trump’s rhetoric […] as threatening to basic decency as I found his demagogue persona, I truly believed he could never win”.

She “joked” at an event in April, when a Trump win was still unimaginable to her, about knowing a “lovely place in Vancouver” she would happily move to should he beat Ms Clinton.

The joke has come back to haunt her as she has been on the receiving end of taunts from Trump supporters online as well as in paper form, according to her most recent Instagram.

“Today, I received a letter (yes, on paper) that read ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the ass when you cross the border into Canada.’ This is actually one of the more polite notes I’ve gotten recently and I’ll survive it just fine,” she wrote.

Dunham said as a “Jewish, pro-choice, sexual assault survivor with a queer family member” she can “survive” staying in the US to fight for what she believes in, deciding the easy thing would be to move abroad.

“It’s easy to joke about moving to Canada. It’s harder to see, and to love, the people who fill your mailbox with hate,” she wrote. “It’s harder to see what needs to be done and do it. It’s harder to live, fully and painfully aware of the injustice surrounding us, to cherish and fear your country all at once. But I’m willing to try. Will you try with me?”

The 30-year-old has already addressed her seven-month old comments by clarifying it was said in jest when she did not take the idea of a Trump presidency seriously.

“For those demanding I move to Canada based on something I said when this man seemed like a steak salesman with a long shot at the presidency: stay busy revelling in your new regime,” she said in another Instagram post last week.

Dunham is not the only high-profile person who has had to address their pre-election relocation pledge after receiving abuse and ridicule.

During a trip to the UK in September, Amy Schumer joked her stand-up routine would change in the wake of a Trump presidency “because I will need to learn to speak Spanish because I will move to Spain or somewhere. It’s beyond my comprehension if Trump won”.

Following the result, she hit back on Instagram: “The interview where I said I would move was in London and was in jest. Not that anyone needs more than a headline to count something as official news,” she said labelling those telling her to pack her bags “disgusting”.

Likewise, Whoopi Goldberg said despite her pledge to leave she is “not leaving the country I was born and raised in”.

While these celebrities may have been joking, as the result became apparent on election night the official website for “Citizenship and Immigration Canada” crashed apparently due to the sheer volume of Americans weighing up their options.