Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern who became an anti-bullying activist, was scheduled to give an interview immediately after the end of a speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center, The Jerusalem Post reported. However, when Levi asked her if she was still expecting a private apology from Clinton 20 years later, Lewinsky simply responded to her question with “I’m sorry, I’m not going to be able to do this,” and quickly exited the stage.
Monica sat down for about a minute with Yonit Levi, then — upon hearing the first question — abruptly left the stage. Story coming… pic.twitter.com/75UPeLyGCF
— Amy Spiro (@AmySpiro) 3 сентября 2018 г.
Later on Twitter, Lewinsky revealed that she chose to end the interview because she felt that she had been misled by Levi, who asked a question that had not been previously agreed upon between the show producers and Lewinski's advance team. The activist also noted that after Levi asked her the same question the previous day, Lewinsky had declared it off limits. By not honoring Lewinsky's request, Levi showed herself to be disrespectful, and the activist wanted to detail that others may not “control [a woman’s] narrative.”
Prior to the abortive interview, Lewinsky touched on her experience of her affair with a sitting US president, comparing the backlash she experienced after being outed by a friend who betrayed her trust to modern-day “cyberbullying, online harassment and slut shaming.”
“I don’t think I would have felt so isolated if what happened in 1998 happened in 2018,” she said, adding, “by and large I had been alone. Publicly alone. Abandoned most by the main figure in this crisis, who knew me well and intimately.”
After Lewinsky’s rapid departure from the interview stage, a Channel 2 News spokesperson expressed gratitude for Lewinsky's appearance, and that the media outlet would “respect her sensitivity and wish her luck.”
