In June this year, former president Bill Clinton was asked about the 1998 sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky, in which he had an affair with the then 22-year-old White House intern. When NBC's Today host Craig Melvin asked him if he ever apologised to Lewinsky following the scandal and the subsequent backlash she faced, he said he hasn't spoken to her, and that he doesn't owe her an apology either.
"No, I do - I do not," Clinton said. "I've never talked to her. But I did say, publicly, on more than one occasion, that I was sorry. That's very different. The apology was public."
Now, earlier this week, Lewinsky was asked about this comment. The 45-year-old had just given a speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center on Monday, which was to be followed by an interview with Channel 2 News anchor Yonit Levi. “Do you still expect that apology? A personal apology?” Levi asked, but Lewinsky wasn't having any of it.
“I’m sorry, I’m not going to be able to do this,” she said, before removing her mic and walking off stage, shutting off the interview entirely. You can see the intensely awkward moment in the video below:
According to Lewinsky, questions about the scandal were off-limits, a rule that the interviewer broke. In a statement posted to Twitter, she wrote:
“There were clear parameters about what we would be discussing and what we would not. In fact, the exact question the interviewer asked first, she had put to me when we met the day prior. When she asked me it on stage, with blatant disregard for our agreement, it became clear to me I had been misled.
"I left because it is more important than ever for women to stand up for themselves and not allow others to control their narrative. To the audience: I'm very sorry that this talk had to end this way.”
Channel 2 later published a statement in which they thanked Lewinsky for her appearance, but didn’t apologize. “We respect her sensitivity and wish her luck,” the outlet stated.
