Monica Lewinsky and Catfish's Max Joseph team up for 15 Minutes Of Shame doc on HBO Max

By Sam Barsanti | October 21, 2019 | 8:14pm

Aux Features Film

Monica Lewinsky and Catfish's Max Joseph team up for 15 Minutes Of Shame doc on HBO Max

Photo: Jesse Grant

If there’s one thing that can truly unite a community, it’s banding together to dunk on some unfortunate soul who—often through no fault of their own—has found themselves being very publicly shamed and criticized. Sure, it’s mean and offensive, but better them than you, right? Actually, no, because publicly mocking people is bad and cruel, and Max Joseph from Catfish and Monica Lewinsky from real life are heading to HBO Max to teach you about the dangers of public shaming with 15 Minutes Of Shame, a documentary that sounds much more serious than that crummy title implies. (The phrase “15 minutes of fame” is about how being famous is fleeting, so while it is an acceptable pun on that phrase, it also implies that being shamed is something that just goes away and not something that follows your entire life.)

A press release says the documentary “features Joseph” and will have “appearances by Lewinsky,” and it centers around the idea that there’s a “public shaming epidemic” in the world and our “collective need to destroy one another.” It features “well known, bold-faced names” and a “timely, irreverent roller-coaster ride through the world of public shaming,” with input from “individuals from around the globe who have been publicly shamed” as well as the various types of people who are responsible for this kind of public shaming.