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Girls star Lena Dunham has come under fire for seeking artists to work for free on her book tour, which has already accrued more than $US350,000 ($400,000) in ticket sales.
Last month, the writer and actress, who is embarking on a 11-city tour of the US to promote her new book, Not That Kind of Girl, posted an open call out on her website requesting audition tapes of potential opening acts.
More than 600 people responded by submitting filmed auditions, including stand-up comics, a ukulele player and gymnasts.
"The seven who made the final cut won't be making cameos in Girls, Ms Dunham's HBO show about Brooklyn 20-somethings. Instead, they'll be the warm-up acts – performing free of charge," The New York Times reported.
However, the star, who received an advance of more than $US4 million for her memoir, has now bowed to public pressure following an article on Gawker titled "Lena Dunham Does Not Pay" and will now be paying the people she referred to as "these remarkable, special weirdos who I found on the internet".
"As an artist raised by artists, no one believes more than I do that creators should be fairly compensated for their work," she tweeted.
"This feature of the tour was meant to be a way to showcase local talent and I could not be more excited about it," it reported.
Tickets to the events in New York and Los Angeles cost about $US44 and will include poetry readings, catering served out of food trucks, appearances by esteemed writer Zadie Smith and Portlandia star Carrie Brownstein and a signed copy of Dunham's book. More than 8000 tickets have already been sold to what The New York Times is touting as the most elaborate launch since the iPhone 6.
"Ms Dunham has organised a travelling circus of sorts that seems more like a roving Burning Man festival than a sober, meet-the-author literary event," it reported.
Acclaim has already started to filter through for the book, which launches in Australia this week, with renowned literary critic Michiko Kakutani praising the woman who coined the phrase: "I think I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least, a voice, of a generation".
"Ms Dunham seems to understand that some of her and her friends' concerns are the sort that young people with fewer options might regard as luxuries – aware that the small planet she and her friends inhibit is both recognisable and New York City-rarefied," Kakutani wrote.
In August, the 28-year-old was a keynote speaker at a fund-raising event for Scott Stringer, a candidate in the running for the role of New York City's chief financial officer. During her time at the lectern she spoke about the lack of affordable housing for middle-class workers and how graduates and creatives are being priced out of New York and forced to move to smaller cities.
Dunham is the latest celebrity to be lambasted for her lack of remuneration for fledging artists. Earlier this year, Kylie Minogue was criticised for offering professional dancers less than the legal minimum fee to perform with her at the Logies and in the film clip for her upcoming single.
