Beyonce is getting hit left and right, after releasing her new smash hit album Renaissance. First R&B singer Kelis asked Bey to remove a sample of her song Milkshake (which she doesn’t own), then disabled rights groups asked her to remove the word “sp*zz” from one of her tracks.
Now Media Take Out has learned that Monica Lewisky is demanding that Beyonce remove her name from one of her biggest songs, Partition.
Monica, 49, raised the issue after news of the lyric removal broke on Monday.
‘uhmm, while we’re at it…. #Partition,’ she tweeted, along with a link to a Variety article reporting on the matter.
Monica is demanding that Beyonce remove lyrics referencing her affair with then-President Bill Clinton from Beyonce’s 2013 track Partition – after the singer vowed to replace an ableist slur from her new song Heated.
The Partition bars referencing the scandal go like this: ‘Now my mascara running, red lipstick smudged/Oh, me so horny, yeah, he want to f**k/He popped all my buttons, and he ripped my blouse/He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown.’
Lewinsky famously had an affair with Clinton between 1995 and 1997, with their relationship beginning when she was a 22-year-old unpaid White House intern – and eventually led to his impeachment on December 19, 1998.
It’s not clear whether Monica would have a legal claim against Beyonce, for using Monica’s name in the track – but it’s possible.
Here’s how California lawyers Vondram Legal explained the issue on their website:
[social_warfare]A song that is titled “Kanye West” and written by a separate artist likely would require Mr. West’s consent, as that song title creates an inseparable connection between his name and likeness and the commercial value of the song.
However, a single reference to Kanye West in one line of a song titled “Rapping” potentially would not constitute a use for which consent is required under subsection (a) because the use of the name is perhaps not “so directly connected” with the profitability of the song.
