Monica Lewinsky urges Beyoncé to change a lyric about her in 2013 song 'Partition' after making changes to new album
- Monica Lewinsky urged Beyoncé on Twitter to change a lyric in her 2013 song "Partition."
- Beyoncé references Lewinsky's public scandal with former US President Bill Clinton.
Monica Lewinsky jokingly urged Beyoncé to change a lyric that references her affair with former President Bill Clinton.
Earlier this week, Beyoncé confirmed that she is making changes to her new album "Renaissance" after receiving backlash from fans and activists over a word deemed "ableist." Her track "Heated" originally included the word "spaz," which has been used in a derogatory way to describe people with disabilities, especially people with cerebral palsy.
In a statement to Insider, a representative for the Grammy award-winning singer said: "The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced."
On Monday, Lewinsky joined fans responding to the change and joked: "uhmm, while we're at it… #Partition."
The tweet refers to Beyoncé's 2013 song "Partition," in which the singer references the affair between the former White House intern and Clinton in the 1990s that led to the latter's impeachment in 1998.
On "Partition," Beyoncé sings: "He Monica Lewinsky'd all on my gown."
After receiving some pushback to her tweet from fans, Lewinsky clarified that she was using humor to deal with her hurt feelings.
"Yup… this is how i deal with things that hurt/disappoint— i try to find the humor in it. (i was a beyoncé fan til partition) but this isn't the first time i've talked about this," Lewinsky replied to one fan.
She said to another: "when articles about the 125+ other artists changing lyrics to a song cross my TL, i promise i'll do the same."
The activist noted that this isn't the first time she's spoken about musicians referencing the scandal in songs. Lewinsky previously wrote about the phenomenon in an essay for Vanity Fair in 2014.
"Miley Cyrus references me in her twerking stage act, Eminem raps about me, and Beyoncé's latest hit gives me a shout-out," Lewinsky wrote. "Thanks, Beyoncé, but if we're verbing, I think you meant 'Bill Clinton'd all on my gown,' not 'Monica Lewinsky'd.'"
"Heated" isn't the only song that will be changed on Beyoncé's new album.
Earlier this week, the 40-year-old artist quietly removed an interpolation of Kelis' hit song "Milkshake" from the track "Energy."
On Friday, after the release of the album, Kelis said on Instagram that she was "frustrated" that she was not contacted about her song being used on the track.
The interpolation has now been removed from the song on streaming platforms including Apple Music and Tidal, but it is still available on Spotify.