On the red carpet for the final “Girls” premiere, legendary activist and feminist writer Gloria Steinem hugged Lena Dunham on the red carpet and posed with the women for photographs. Turns on she is a long-time fan of the show. I asked her what she thought “Girls” biggest contribution was to popular culture and feminism. “Authenticity,” she told me. “Much more than all the television shows, series anyway, that came before.”

Steinem was of course a strong and vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton I asked her how she was coping with the political craziness of the past few weeks since the election. “We’ve had a coup, not an election,” she said, “but fortunately he’s in the minority and we’re going to show him that.”

Dunham did interviews with Jenni Konner, the show’s executive producer and show runner. Asked about working with Adam Driver, who sadly was not at the premiere, Dunham gushed, “I love him so much. Every time I had the opportunity to act with Adam Driver it was such a master class. I didn’t come into this as a trained actor. I came into it as just a person who could kind of say my own lines and he really was a teacher to me, so every scene I shared with Adam, whether it was a fight scene or a love scene or just sitting around eating food was an amazing lesson, not to mention the chance to direct him.”

I asked the women what they were most proud of about the show. Said Konner, “I feel proudest of just being able to push the ball forward for women and creating room for more female show runners and more female writers and more actors and more directors. That’s what I hope our legacy is.”

In addition to the four female stars of “Girls,” on the red carpet we spotted “Girls” executive producer Judd Apatow, and from the cast, Andrew Rannells, Alex Karpovsky, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Becky Ann Baker, Rita Wilson and Ethan Phillips.

Before HBO aired the first two episodes of the new season to the enthusiastic packed house, Apatow, Lena and Jenni Konner gave some introductory remarks with a strong political bent.

“Before we start I’d like to thank Lena and Jenni, who are the greatest partners you could have in a creative endeavor like this,” said Apatow praising the women.

“But you had a message for the audience first,” Dunham told Apatow, who has blasted Trump in interviews and on Twitter.

“We’re just very mad at Australia right now,” replied Apatow, adding that he’s had a beef with Paul Hogan.

Countered Dunham, “And Naomi Watts? She’s outta here.”

“I punched a kangaroo,” added Apatow.

On a serious note Apatow told the audience, “We are very aware that this is a very strange time to do a big party. But there’s suffering and pain and fear overcoming our country. And we want to take a moment to acknowledge that there are a lot of people standing up and fighting for true democracy and equality and justice, and we would like to say that we believe in those ideas.” The audience cheered and hooted.

Dunham added, tearing up, “We had a love child for about seven years and so seven days of terror cannot stop us form celebrating this.”

Apatow thanked HBO. “They only fought us on one [sex scene] in six years, and you know what? They were right. And then they did it eight times on ‘Westworld’ this year.”

photo c2017 Showbiz411 by Paula Schwartz