Ten years ago this month, Monica Lewinsky launched a PR campaign to rebuild her image. She had recently turned 40 and wanted to turn the page from being known as Bill Clinton’s affair partner and rebrand herself as an anti-cyberbullying activist, calling herself “patient zero” for online reputation assassination.
After all, in the days, months — and even years — after the Clinton scandal, Lewinsky remained a punchline. Whenever Jay Leno, David Letterman, or any other late-night comedian needed a cheap laugh with lewd sexual overtones, alluding to Monica, cigars, and her stained blue dress became a cheat code for the ha-ha’s.
And to be fair, a lot of those jokes were very funny. In the late 1990s, Jay Leno had 14.962 million viewers for a single show (Jerry Seinfeld was his guest). At the time, America’s population was roughly 250 million.
Today, the U.S. population is over 333.3 million… and Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel’s combined ratings are less than 5 million!
There are many reasons why late-night TV has been hemorrhaging viewers, but it’s also true that Leno and Letterman were successful because they gave the American people the kind of entertainment we coveted at the time.
We all voted, in essence, with our TV remote controls.
So even though it’s awfully convenient to blame Leno and Letterman for “bullying” Monica with their off-color jokes, they were clearly performing for an eager, receptive audience. And besides, what’s worse: The comedian who tells the joke… or the guy watching his TV who giggles at ‘em?
I honestly don’t know.
Since then, there’s been the rise of the #MeToo and/or #TimesUp movements, which culminated with pigs like Democratic Party donor Harvey Weinstein being tossed in a prison cell. It’s triggered a cultural reassessment of sexism, gender roles, and the concept of “punching down” versus “punching up.” Today, the same late-night comics who profited mightily from their lewd Lewinsky one-liners later sought repentance and expressed regret for picking on poor Monica.
But does Monica Lewinsky deserve an apology?
In many ways, she’s a sympathetic figure: There are very few historical parallels of a private citizen suddenly being blamed/credited/despised for endangering a president, culminating in a landmark impeachment trial. That’s a helluva spicy meatball, folks! There’s a long list of “other ladies” for powerful politicians, despots, and kings, but seldom with these repercussions. Monica Lewinsky is in a category of one.
There’s also a stark contrast in age and power.
Today, Monica Lewinsky is 51. She’s actually older now than Bill Clinton was in 1997, when their affair began. He was 49; she was in her early 20s. She was a low-level intern; he ran the Oval Office and had his finger on The Button.
Afterward, her last name became a street-level euphemism for a very specific sexual act. By her own account, it was devastating and humiliating. With the possible exception of Montezuma II, the ninth king of the Aztec Empire — whose name (“Montezuma’s revenge”) later became synonymous with traveler’s diarrhea (probably not how he hoped to be remembered) — I can’t imagine a worse legacy for someone’s name.
Alexander the Macedonian was remembered for being GREAT — and so was Catherine in Russia — but poor Montezuma and Monica are immortalized in pop-culture for something… er… *less eloquent*. So I can’t really blame her for being annoyed — or trying to change her legacy now, today, while she’s still on this earth.
But it still doesn’t change the fact that Monica Lewinsky was an adult at the time.
She was 22 when the affair began. And her actions had serious political consequences. She flashed her thong at Bill Clinton with the deliberate attempt to attract his sexual attention. And she absolutely, 100% knew he was married. Nobody disputes any of this.
The sordidness of the cigars, stains, and dresses has overshadowed the historical timeline, but people forget how dangerous the situation was: Bill Clinton campaigned for president in 1992 on the premise that Republicans were anti-women and pro-sexual harassment. This was on the heels of the Clarence Thomas versus Anita Hill confirmation hearings, where the all-male judiciary committee in the Senate (which included Joe Biden) stood in judgment of Anita Hill’s credibility.
Naturally, the media denounced it as sexism.
Liberals began pushing for new legislation. Post-Thomas, they argued, it’s imperative that we change the law so the accused’s past conduct is investigated, scrutinized, and introduced into evidence in sexual harassment cases. (Generally speaking, a defendant’s prior conduct and/or past crimes is deemed too prejudicial to be included in new trials.) But liberals demanded we make an exception for sexual harassment since it ALWAYS happens in a pattern, so OF COURSE we need to include a defendant’s history of conduct!
Bill Clinton campaigned for this law and supported it. He signed it into law in 1994. It’s called the Violence Against Women Act.
Shortly thereafter, an Arkansas state employee named Paula Jones sued Clinton for sexual harassment under the VAWA. And under the VAWA, Bill Clinton’s history of workplace behavior — which included patterns of inappropriate conduct with subordinates — suddenly became relevant. Somewhere along the way, Jones’s legal team caught wind of Lewinsky and subpoenaed her.
Bill Clinton intervened… and directly coached Monica to lie under oath. That VAWA law he campaigned for, blasted Republicans over, and ultimately signed into law? Guess it was meant to apply to everyone else — and NOT to Slick Willy.
In other words, the Executive Branch used its power to undermine the Judicial Branch and deny a sexually abused woman her lawful legal rights.
Since our legal system relies on precedent, ignoring Clinton’s transgressions carried frightening, far-reaching consequences. From America’s beginning, our Founding Father’s greatest fear was that one man might consolidate too much power and become a tyrant. To prevent this, they developed the concept of a separation of powers. With different branches of government serving as a check on one another, they reasoned, America would always be free.
Despite this, Bill Clinton directed the resources of the Executive Branch to undermine the Judicial Branch. It was a clear attempt to disrupt the separation of powers doctrine for personal gain. If it had gone unchecked, the precedent would’ve fundamentally altered our country.
It’s fine to have sympathy for Monica Lewinsky’s plight. Like many of you, I feel bad for her as a fellow human. When Monica was a little girl, daydreaming about being a grownup, I’m sure this wasn’t the legacy she wanted!
But I’m also not going to infantilize a 22-year-old woman who’s working in the White House. That’s a Big Person Job that requires Big Person accountability. And look, if you’re gonna flash your panties at your boss, have an affair with a married man, lie under oath, and trigger a constitutional crisis, it’s fair game for Jay Leno to make a few jokes.
Yes, Monica Lewinsky was a victim. But it still doesn’t change the fact that she was a villain, too.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member