Emily Mack
Beyoncé made news this week for altering a song lyric — in response to social media backlash. And now, Monica Lewinsky is hopping onboard, pressuring the singer into a different lyric change.
Videos by Rare
The Original Lyric Change
Earlier this summer, pop sensation Lizzo removed the word “spaz” from her summer hit “Grrrls” after it was called out as an ableist slur. According to Twitter users, the term — which means “to lose physical or emotional control” — stems from a real medical condition. Those who suffer from spastic movements, often with the disability Cerebral Palsy, find the term especially offensive.
Lizzo’s swift action to remove the lyric was celebrated by those in the disability community. But less than two months later, Beyoncé released her own track using the same word. And unsurprisingly, Twitter erupted spoken. Again. And like Lizzo, it did not take Beyoncé long to enact a lyric change. On August 1, she made an official announcement: The line in “Heated,” off her new album Renaissance, will be updated soon.
But for some people, that’s not enough. And by some people, we mean Monica Lewinsky. As the Beyoncé news remained trending, Lewinsky took advantage of the moment to press for second lyric change.
Monica Lewinsky’s Tweet
That Dirty “Partition” Lyric
Monica Lewinsky has spent the past few years redefining her image. No longer the world’s most famous White House intern, Lewinsky is now known as a respected activist. She talks often, and frankly, about how her world was turned upside down in 1998. Not only by not only her affair with then-president Bill Clinton but by the country’s reaction to it. For decades, the young woman was slut shamed, disparaged online and on TV, and turned into an ongoing punchline.
She recalling the experience in her 2015 TED Talk, saying, with a self-effacing sense of humor: “Yes, I’m in rap songs. 40 rap songs.” Naturally, those many lyrics refer to Lewinsky’s infamous sex act with Clinton. (Obviously, we all remember the stained blue dress.) And Beyoncé’s 2013 song “Partition” is among the bunch.
It goes: “He bucked all my buttons, he ripped my blouse / He Monica Lewinski’d all on my gown.”
Only time, and the corresponding level of online vitriol, will tell whether Beyoncé responds to Lewinsky’s request.
Monica Lewinsky’s Anti-Bullying Activism
Monica Lewinsky has made a career reflecting on her own public shaming. Through lectures and social activism, she speaks out about the dangers of bullying – specifically on the internet. In addition to her viral TED talk (watch above), Lewinsky has written an essay for Vanity Fair called “Shame and Survival” and a foreword for the 2017 book, Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate. Her work and her story, so deeply entwined with sexual harassment, has figured prominently in the #MeToo movement.
She has also served as a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig, inc. and a TV host for the Fox reality dating program, Mr. Personality. For some time, she was even a fashion designer; Monica Lewinsky designed a line of knitted handbags which sold well online, as well as at the New York fashion carrier, Henri Bendel and California’s Fred Segal. In 1999, Lewinsky co-authored the book, Monica’s Story, with Andrew Morton, She also participated in the A&E 2018 docuseries, The Clinton Affair.
