CNN: 'Why Are People so Darn Mean' to Lewinsky?

A panel on Tuesday’s “CNN Newsroom” wondered “why are people so darn mean?” to Monica Lewinsky.

CNN Digital Correspondent Kelly Wallace said that Lewinsky’s story was “relatable, right? One moment someone’s reputation can flip on a dime and i think very brave of her to come forward and say ‘I want to dedicate myself to try and prevent this, this kind of internet activity that is damaging lives and leading to some deaths, too.’”

She also wondered, “why are people so darn mean, carol? Really, I don’t understand. Look, she obviously admits she was having a relationship with the president of the United States.”

Wallace Then turned to some of the worse examples of people mocking Lewinsky and said “people like to poke fun of her. she even mentioned in the ‘Vanity Fair’ article that she wrote in June listening to the  ‘New York Post’ calling her the ‘portly pepper pot.’ I mean, it’s just cruel and mean and I think people aren’t able to turn the page and accept her saying she’s here, she wants to do something good with her life, why can’t we embrace that?”

Host Carol Costello argued “it’s not like she didn’t admit that she did something wrong, clearly she knows she did something wrong, having an affair with a married man, but again, she was 22 and how long are you to be punished for something you did in your early 20s?”

Salon Assistant Editor Jenny Kutner concluded the discussion by saying “I think the fact that we can still tie her name to this concept of being harassed online and having your private life made so public it could be really helpful to other people who this has happened to, something similar.”

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