Girls creator is embroiled in a ‘whitewashing’ row after news that she is to adapt the story of Doaa Al-Zamel whose boat was rammed in the Mediterranean

Lena Dunham has suffered a social media backlash after it emerged she has been commissioned by Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams to write the script for a film about a Syrian refugee who was stranded at sea.

Dunham tweeted a report by Variety magazine that she was to work on an adaptation of A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea, the harrowing story of Doaa Al-Zamel, who survived the sinking of the boat on which she was attempting to cross the Mediterranean. (Her fiance drowned after their vessel was rammed.) The book was written by Melissa Fleming, head of communications of the United Nations’ Refugee Agency. Spielberg and Abrams are due to act as producers on the project, with short-film specialist Arif Hussein as executive producer. No director has yet been announced.

Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) Very lucky to have this job, to tell this story, to support this truth with these people. ❤️ https://t.co/EgcRfKA0ks

However, Dunham, who wrote and directed the award-winning 2010 feature film Tiny Furniture as well as creating the HBO TV series Girls, was immediately accused on social media of “whitewashing”.

Among a blizzard of negative responses, Suzanne Samin, Syrian-Cuban social media editor of Romper, wrote: “Please leave Syrian stories alone if you aren’t Syrian and especially if you are Lena Dunham. Thank you.” She also questioned whether Dunham had ever donated to refugee relief efforts, adding: “Just curious if you’ve at least done that before you profit off my people’s pain!”

CNN Digital Studios reporter Neha Shastry said: “Anyone else take issue with a person who has shown very little regard for the importance of representation in her work writing a Syrian refugee’s story?” Meanwhile, The Intercept’s Daniel Medina added that Dunham “constantly talks about representation as crucial to enrich storytelling. Yet, in practice, she has shown a disregard for actually elevating those voices. Now, she’s been signed on to write a Syrian refugee’s story? Hollywood, was no female Arab writer available?”

Laura Seay, assistant professor at Colby College, Maine, said: “Surely there are storytellers who have actually been refugees, or at least had some experience with what it means to be marginalized, who could write this screenplay adaptation with authenticity & … not white privilege. Hard to think of a worse choice for this than Dunham.”

Dunham, who recently ended publication of the weekly Lenny Letter newsletter, replied to Samin on social media, writing: “If you’d ever like to discuss the project, I like to receive perspectives and engage in dialogue.” Fleming also defended the project, writing: “The book is a true story entrusted to me by Doaa. If I hadn’t written it, I am afraid it would have not been told, her voice a one-day news story. I have been given every assurance this screen adaption and movie will remain true.”

Alongside her reputation as a feminism activist, Dunham has found herself at the centre of a number of controversial incidents. In 2014, she was accused of sexually molesting her sister as a seven-year-old. Two years later, she apologised for criticising football player Odell Beckham Jr’s behaviour at a Met Gala event, and later the same year apologised for joking about abortion in a podcast. In 2017, she again apologised for defending Girls writer Murray Miller after actor Aurora Perrineau accused him of rape. (No charges were filed against Miller by the Los Angeles County District Attorney, citing the statute of limitations and “inconsistencies and the delay in reporting”.)

Dunham’s representatives have not yet responded to a request for comment.