Lena Dunham Apologizes for Making Allison Williams Sing 'Fast Car' on “Girls”: 'It's Not Going to Be a Big Deal'

A clip of Williams' character Marnie singing Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" recently resurfaced and went viral on social media

Lena Dunham will always sing the praises of her Girls costar Allison Williams — or apologize, as needed, for making Williams sing.

Nearly seven years after Williams' character Marnie Michaels had a little road trip karaoke moment to Tracy Chapman's “Fast Car” in the HBO show's finale, its creator and star admitted to Variety that she never imagined that these kinds of cringe-worthy moments would inspire long-lasting memes.

“I love that Allison would constantly say when we were shooting Girls, ‘Oh my God, are you really going to make me sing this? This is so embarrassing,'" recalled Dunham, 37. "And I’d be like, ‘It’s not going to be a big deal.’”

She continued, “And then those are the things that become memes for the next 20 years. So I’m sorry, Allison.”

Related: 'Girls' Cast: Where Are They Now?

The clip of Marnie singing “Fast Car” recently resurfaced on social media after Chapman, 59, joined Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards — where his cover was nominated for best country solo performance — for a moving duet of Chapman's 1988 breakout single. 

In the finale's opening scene, Marnie was driving her best friend Hannah (Dunham) and Hannah's sleeping newborn Grover to upstate New York. Marnie's attempt to drum up a friendly sing-along fell flat, with Hannah begging her, “I’m asking you to stop, and I’m asking in a nice way."

After several pleas, Hannah finally yelled, “Turn it off!” Once Marnie silenced the radio, Grover began to bawl.

The scene paid off by the end of the episode, though, when Hannah rocked a colic-stricken Grover and successfully got him to breastfeed for the first time by humming “Fast Car” to him.

Related: Lena Dunham Reflects on Her 'First Grownup Job' While Celebrating 'Girls' 10-Year Anniversary

During her chat with Variety, Dunham also looked back on the moment in season 2 when Marnie publicly embarrassed herself (without realizing it, naturally) by performing a cringe-worthy take on Kanye West’s “Stronger” at a work party for her ex-boyfriend Charlie (Christopher Abbott).

“I will credit her for some of the lyric changes in that,” revealed Dunham, referring to Marnie's well-intentioned yet tone-deaf switch to "You can be my white Kate Moss tonight."

“We’re very grateful to Allison,” she said.

Dunham's also appreciative of Girls' renewed popularity thanks to Gen Z viewers — a resurgence she admits has been “crazy and wild and not something I expected.” She added, “I see your TikTok mashups. I feel grateful for them, even though I’m technologically incompetent and not really on Instagram. I’m getting the love and it’s very felt and appreciated.”

Girls ran from 2012 to 2017. Since then, Williams, 35, has become a horror mainstay thanks to Get Out, M3gan and The Perfection. Dunham has helmed films including Catherine Called Birdy and Sharp Stick. She will soon make her return to TV with the forthcoming Netflix rom-com series Too Much, which she is set to write and direct, starring Megan Stalter and The White Lotus's Will Sharpe.

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