Monica Lewinsky asks Beyoncé to remove her name from 'Partition' after new lyric response (original) (raw)

The Grammy winner is set to remove a lyric from a Renaissance song over concerns of ableism, and now the former White House intern suggests her name be removed from a 2013 song as well.

Published on August 2, 2022 03:55PM EDT

Monica Lewinsky has suggested that Beyoncé remove her name from a 2013 song after it was revealed that the performer will rework another lyric from her new Renaissance album over ableist concerns.

The former White House intern responded to news reports about Beyoncé nixing the word "spaz" from Renaissance track "Heated" with a tweet reading, "uhmm, while we're at it... #Partition."

Lewinsky's tweet referenced a line from the 2013 Beyoncé album track in which the singer recalled that a man "Monica Lewinsky'd all on my gown," with reference to an affair between President Bill Clinton and a then-21-year-old Lewinsky, which led to Clinton's impeachment in 1998.

EW has reached out to a representative for Beyoncé for comment.

Following her social media message, users quickly responded to Lewinsky's tweet, pointing out that she had touted being a "rap song muse" in her Twitter bio.

Another chimed in with a screen grab from a 2014 essay written by Lewinsky for Vanity Fair, in which she thanked Beyoncé for including her in the song, but offered a suggested change to the words.

"Miley Cyrus references me in her twerking stage act, Eminem raps about me, and Beyoncé's latest hit gives me a shout-out. Thanks, Beyoncé," she wrote, "but if we're verbing, I think you meant 'Bill Clinton'd all on my gown,' not 'Monica Lewinsky'd.'"

Lewinsky clarified that she engaged with the reference previously as a means "find humor in painful/humiliating things," and that she hadn't directly reached out to Beyoncé's camp to request that the lyric be removed.

Following the release of Beyoncé in December 2013, "Partition" was serviced as an official single at the top of 2014. It reached No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 before receiving a Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Monica Lewinsky suggests Beyoncé remove her name from 'Partition'. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Read Lewinsky's tweet above.

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