Monica Lewinsky’s name has become synonymous with public shame, scandal, and one of the most notorious extramarital affairs in American political history. Throughout the past 20 years, she’s faced ridicule and media scrutiny from all corners of the world due to her sexual relationship with former President Bill Clinton. Although she has done her best to move forward, people still remind her of the incident at every corner. And despite working as a social activist campaigning against cyberbullying, Lewinsky can’t seem to catch a break.
To cope, she sometimes jokes about her predicament and has tried to shift the narrative through work. One instance is her role as co-producer of “Impeachment: American Crime Story,” the upcoming season of the FX series, which has previously covered the O.J. Simpson story and murder of Gianni Versace.
However, from being the butt of jokes by late-night show hosts to being crudely referenced in multiple song lyrics, her name is still used as a pop culture reference. But there was one singer who Lewinsky was quick to shade when she referenced her in a hit song a few years back.
Monica Lewinsky might not be a fan of Queen Bey
When Beyoncé dropped her surprise self-titled album in December 2013, she broke the internet, sending fans into a frenzy all over the world. She had us bopping along to her songs, screaming words such as “surfboard” and “watermelon.” But there was one line that we were all singing along to that was less than flattering to Monica Lewinsky.
Referencing Lewinsky’s well-publicized stained blue dress from her relationship with President Bill Clinton, Beyoncé sang in “Partition,” “He popped all my buttons, and he ripped my blouse. He Monica Lewinsky’d all on my gown.” The spicy tune brought Lewinsky back into the spotlight once again. And as expected, she really didn’t appreciate the reference.
In an essay for Vanity Fair in 2014, Lewinsky wrote about her feeling towards her notoriety. “Miley Cyrus references me in her twerking stage act, Eminem raps about me, and Beyoncé’s latest hit gives me a shout-out,” wrote Lewinsky. “Thanks, Beyoncé, but if we’re verbing, I think you meant ‘Bill Clinton’d all on my gown,’ not ‘Monica Lewinsky’d.'” Looks like Monica Lewinsky won’t take any shade, not even from Queen Bey herself.
Monica Lewinsky is OK with the jokes… to a point
Despite spending a decade out of the public eye, Monica Lewinsky’s name was still in the minds of many, particularly those in the music industry. Now it may be the fact that her name rhymes well with “whiskey” but today, Lewinsky’s name has been mentioned in plenty of other songs as she revealed in a 2015 TED Talk, “Yes I’m in rap songs. Almost 40 rap songs.”
As the years have gone by, it seems like the younger generation born after the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal only know her as a woman mentioned in loads of rap songs. One Twitter user tweeted: “Idk who @MonicaLewinsky is but her name gets stuck in my head a lot so I guess she important and we should be friends,” to which Lewinsky responded, “I’m the chick from over 125 rap songs…”
Although it’s safe to say that even with the continued public interest, Lewinsky is able to find the humor in it all, she hopes people lead with compassion instead of hate. The social activist explained to Glamour, “When you see anyone being targeted, support her or him with a positive comment or emoji. Be mindful of clickbait—sensational stories designed to humiliate. Click with compassion. The most potent thing we can do is to bring more compassion online.”
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