American Idol is reportedly rethinking its spotlight on Claudia Conway after backlash

Page Six

Idol was accused of being "exploitative" and committing "malpractice" in putting the 16-year-old daughter of former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway and anti-Trump lawyer George Conway front and center in promoting the new season and giving her a spotlight on Sunday's premiere, especially after Claudia Conway accused her mom of abuse. "The first thing that feels jarringly wrong about this is the degree to which a child at the center of a dispute that has bled into public view is being asked to launder the reputations of two adults who should know better," Daniel D'Addario wrote in Variety. Page Six reports ABC is in "crisis mode" over Claudia Conway's appearance, with an insider saying the network is “rethinking how they are going to position Claudia and Kellyanne with promotion. They were big on putting Claudia in all of the promos, but now they are thinking of not putting as much focus on that … to not make as big a deal of her being on the show and focus on other contestants.” As Jezebel's Ashley Reese points out, it seems everybody is taking advantage of Claudia Conway, from ABC to her parents. "It’s disturbing enough that Idol obviously used Claudia’s accusations to draw viewers into the show’s season premiere," says Reese. "But more disturbing was that, during the episode, the relationship between Claudia and Kellyanne was depicted as merely fraught and frayed, a typical prickly mother-daughter relationship forced into an atypical situation...Yes, this footage is months old, but it renders Kellyanne into a misunderstood parent at best and Claudia into a shameless grifter at worst (a narrative which is already sprouting legs online). This is an unfair read of Claudia, of course: At the end of the day, she’s a child with a TikTok account. There were countless adults whose questionable decisions led to this moment, from Idol’s producers and editors to Claudia’s own parents. American Idol wants juicy television, Kellyanne Conway wants to be redeemed in the public eye, and George Conway... well, he apparently just really wants to see his little girl sing?"