Kellyanne Conway: ‘Alternative Facts’ And Oscars Gaffe Are Comparable

Kellyanne Conway, U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial senior advisor, has stated that her now-infamous phrase, “alternative facts,” is a lot similar to the recent gaffe at the recently-held Academy Awards, where the Best Picture Award was mistakenly given to the film La La Land instead of Moonlight.

In an interview with CBS’ Norah O’Donnell, the counselor to the president maintained that everyone, the Oscars and herself included, are prone to making mistakes. Asked by O’Donnell about the true nature of “alternative facts,” Conway stated that the whole phrase just got conflated.

“Well, it was ‘alternative investment and additional facts.’ And that got conflated. But, you know, respectfully, Norah, I see mistakes on TV every single day and people just brush them off. Everybody thinks it’s just so funny that the wrong movie was, you know, heralded as the winner of the Oscars. You say, ‘Well, that’s just all in good fun, things happen.’ Well, things happen to everyone.”

The entire “alternative facts” controversy started when Conway, confronted by NBC’s Chuck Todd, spoke the phrase as she was defending the size of President Trump’s inauguration crowd. Photographic evidence of Trump’s inauguration showed that the 45th president of the United States attracted a far smaller crowd than former U.S. President Barack Obama did when he was elected, according to a report from the Guardian.

Despite the photographic evidence and multiple reports from various news sites, however, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer asserted that President Trump’s inauguration attracted the biggest crowd in U.S. history. Unsurprisingly, the media immediately pounced on Spicer’s statement, stating that the White House Press Secretary uttered a complete falsehood, one which could easily be debunked.

How will Pres. Trump try to divert attention from the growing Russian scandal?
Option (5): Keep talking about crowd size! pic.twitter.com/Y0WLK4OL2h

— Rob Szczerba ?? (@RJSzczerba) March 3, 2017

During Conway’s fiery interview with the NBC anchor, Todd asked why the White House decided to greenlight a statement as careless and as easily disproven as Spicer’s crowd size assertion.

“Why did he do that? It undermines the credibility of the entire White House press office on day one,” Todd said.

Conway, however, brushed off the question. It was then that Conway spoke her most infamous phrase to date.

“Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. You’re saying it’s a falsehood and they’re giving – Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that,” she retorted.

Unfortunately for Conway, her reputation with the media and with the general public really did not take a turn for the better. In a later statement while defending the President’s controversial travel ban, the Trump advisor mentioned the “Bowling Green Massacre” in Kentucky, an incident which was allegedly masterminded by refugees.

“I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green Massacre.”

As much as her statements were strong, however, there was only one problem — the Bowling Green Massacre never happened. When called out about her statement, Conway brushed it off as an honest mistake. After this, Conway drew fire once more by advertising Ivanka Trump’s merchandise during an interview, which resulted in the Office of Government Ethics stating that the Trump advisor breached ethics rules. Most recently, a photograph of Conway sitting very relaxed in the Oval Office also drew fire from critics.

Apart from her controversial “alternative facts” and the “Bowling Green Massacre,” Conway also discussed Saturday Night Live’s portrayal of her as a stalker during her recent CBS interview. Though the skit proved quite popular among viewers, Conway stated that there were many who did not appreciate SNL’s humor.

“Look, people really got outraged about that particular skit. I had people right, left and center coming to my ‘defense,’ saying it was over the top and it’s all so — but it’s also untrue,” she said.

While Conway appears set on maintaining her position as one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s most notable staff members, the controversial advisor stated that her children are the only factors which would make her consider leaving the White House.

“They’re having the hardest time with this. This is all new for us. This is not something I’ve sought. I’m not a famous person on TV. It’s just different to not have mom there, but it was a decision we made as a family, and we’re going to move them here either way, because I’m here to support the president.”

[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]