Monica Lewinsky Demands Beyoncé Remove Lyric Referencing Clinton Affair

Monica Lewinsky has asked Beyoncé to remove a lyric referencing her affair with former President Bill Clinton from a 2013 song, according to the Daily Mail. Her request came after the singer vowed to replace an ableist slur from her new track “Heated.”

49-year-old Lewinsky addressed the issue after the news of Beyoncé removing the ableist lyric broke yesterday (August 1). She tweeted the link to a Variety article reporting on the controversy and added the caption, “uhmm, while we’re at it… #Partition,” in reference to Beyoncé’s 2013 song “Partition.”

In the track, Beyoncé sings, “Now my mascara running, red lipstick smudged/Oh, me so horny, yeah, he want to f**k/He popped all my buttons, and he ripped my blouse/He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown.” The lyric alludes to Lewinsky’s 1995-1997 affair with then-President Clinton. Their relationship began when she was a 22-year-old unpaid White House Intern and eventually led to Clinton’s impeachment on December 19, 1998, for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

This isn’t the first time Lewinsky has suggested the lyric should be changed. “Thanks, Beyoncé, but if we’re verbing, I think you meant ‘Bill Clinton’d all on my gown,’ not ‘Monica Lewinsky’d,'” she wrote in a 2014 Vanity Fair article.

uhmm, while we’re at it… #Partition

Beyoncé to Remove Renaissance Lyric After Outrage: Ableist, Offensive – Variety https://t.co/DzN80FdzPB

— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) August 1, 2022