Following the release of her latest album, Beyonce has promised to amend her lyrics.
“Heated” contains an ableist slur, albeit one that is unfamiliar (as a slur) for most American audiences.
While Beyonce is fixing that, Monica Lewinsky would like a word.
She also came up in the lyrics of one of Queen Bey’s older songs. It’s not her proudest moment in pop culture.
As people discussed Beyonce’s lyrical revision to remove the slur, sp–z, Monica Lewinsky chimed in.
“Uhmm, while we’re at it… #Partition,” she tweeted on Monday, August 1.
“Partition,” of course, is an older song of Beyonce’s … one that mentions Monica by name.
In the 2013 song, Beyonce sings: “He popped all my buttons/and he ripped my blouse.”
Her lyrics continue: “He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown.”
While Beyonce’s song describes a heated sexual encounter in a limousine, the name-drop tells a specific story.
For many Millennials, the story of Monica Lewinsky and President Bill Clinton was our first political scandal.
(Admittedly, mine was Dan Quayle incorrecting the spelling of “potato,” but I was very young for that)
When she was 24 years old, her boss was the most powerful person on the planet. They had an affair.
It’s sort of odd now, to think of an affair like this as a “scandal” of that magnitude.
It’s 2022. The previous administration organized an attempted coup d’etat. There was a deadly attack on the capitol.
The man who organized it, disgraced former president Donald Trump, is also a notorious cheater. Among so many other things.
But, in the 1990s and the absurd political environment of the time, the scandal made Monica famous in the worst way.
Now, most people appreciate her much more. The general public better understands the power dynamics, too.
But … should Beyonce change her lyrics?
It’s not clear if Monica is actually requesting that she amend the lyrics to “Partition.”
Like the rest of us, Monica comments and cracks jokes about hot topics.
Unlike most people, she is more likely to be brought up in pop culture. And millions of people notice her jokes.
Obviously, Monica’s tweet rattled the Bey Hive, some of whom began to swarm her.
Some accused her of being opportunistic. After all, why is she only bringing this up now, nine years later?
But whoops … Monica actually brought this up in 2014 during an extensive interview.
“Thanks, Beyonce,” Monica said at the time during a Vanity Fair interview.
“I think you meant ‘Bill Clinton-ed all on my gown,’ not ‘Monica Lewinsky-ed,’” she quipped.
Monica spent years as a regular punchline across all genres of media. She is understandably a little done with it.
This discussion comes in the aftermath of Beyonce promising to remove a slur from “Heated.”
As we discussed earlier this week, it is reasonable for an American to not know that sp–z is a slur in other English-speaking countries.
It is equally reasonable for Beyonce’s fans, some of whom are disabled and some of whom are from the UK, to ask her to change it.
