Former American President Bill Clinton handled his encounter with the #MeToo movement rather awkwardly recently. (Could he have done it any other way, really?) Clinton, who has been busy with a book tour, used the opportunity to talk about he handled the Monica Lewinsky scandal and even explained why he didn’t feel the need to apologise to her.
Journalist Craig Melvin grilled Clinton on his side of the story. “Through the lens of #MeToo now, do you think differently or feel more responsibility?...Did you ever apologise to her (Lewinsky)?” he asked.
Clinton said he would have tackled the situation today exactly the way he did 20 years ago. “I don’t think it would be an issue,” he said when asked if he would have reacted differently. “Because people would be using the facts instead of the imagined facts. If the facts were the same today, I wouldn’t,” Clinton said.
About that apology he owes her? Clinton was adamant. “No, I do not – I have 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.”
Forgive us for thinking this sounds hypocritical: “...I support the me too movement and think it is long overdue, and I have always tried to support it in the decisions and policies that I advanced. Beyond that, I think it would be good if we could go on with the discussion.”
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