‘American Idol’ Considers Backtracking On Claudia Conway After Being Accused Of Exploiting

Updated February 18, 2021.

The Trump World’s old days of reality television domination might be back to haunt us.

With their leader ousted as president, or having booted them out of their world long ago, plenty of figures in Trump’s inner circle have tried their hand at taking their positions of power and running with them… right onto the reality television screen. You might remember that it didn’t take long for Trump’s political mouthpiece Sean Spicer to take a turn around the Dancing With The Star stage soon after he departed from the White House. Even U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s scorned wife, Louise Linton, recently nailed distribution for her horror film, Me You Madness. Perhaps, it might not be long before we see the likes of Ivanka and Jared taking on their own version of “The Newly Weds” or doing interviews on “The Real Housewives” franchise.

The first to take the plunge post-2020 election?

TikTok hero Claudia Conway. Of course, her reality show push we don’t mind.

Claudia, the teenage daughter of top Trump’s propagandist Kellyanne, is now on “American Idol.”

Last weekend, the teenager with a substantial TikTok following, thanks largely to her efforts to speak out against Trump and in support of Black Lives Matter, revealed that she tried out for “American Idol.”

“Hey guys, I’m here at American Idol confessional, Conway revealed to her followers on TikTok. “I met Ryan Seacrest today and I have my audition soon…. I’m very, very nervous, but very excited.”

The fourth season of Idol on ABC is set to return on Feb. 14. According to Billboard, “Conway seems like a slam dunk, as she’s shown off her impressive vocals on her TikTok account, which has nearly 1.5 million followers; a source close to Idol confirmed that Conway is auditioning for the show.”

Hype around Sunday’s American Idol Season 19 premiere centered on’s Claudia audition.

During her appearance, Claudia insisted that appearing on the series was an “amazing opportunity” to find herself and establish her own identity. Still, backlash to Claudia’s TV appearance garnered immediate and intense backlash. Twitter users protested her appearance which columnated in an article published by Variety called “How ‘American Idol’ Used Claudia Conway writing “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.”

“American Idol is gross for allowing an abusive creature like Kellyanne Conway to rehab her image on the show, and using Claudia Conway’s pain to make a quick buck,” commented on user.

Now, after critics accused the show of exploiting the Conways’ struggles to boost ratings, an “insider” from the network told Page Six the show 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.”

Claudia appeared in the new season of “American Idol” which premiered this week.

Claudia can be seen walking into her audition in the post before explaining to the judgest “My parents are high profile political figures… I’m very nervous but very excited.”

Claudia took to TikTok to share the news with her followers commenting “I did audition and it’ll be on air this Sunday, February 14th… I’ve been singing my whole life, I grew up in musical theater. Music has been one of the pillars in my life, and I wouldn’t be here without it. Everyone thinks this is a publicity stunt or me trying to be, like, whatever – but no, music is my passion.”

It didn’t take long for Conway fans to support her audition efforts.

“Claudia Conway going on American Idol is somehow one of the more shocking parts of this year,” one user commented.

Another Twitter user commented “omg claudia conway auditioned for american idol knowing well she has a platform and could just find connections but decided to prove herself in a competition……….. she’s kinda of an icon tbh”

Of course, there are skeptics. “Why the f*** is Claudia Conway going on American Idol???” One user questioned. “Tf is she supposed to say? Yes, I am currently being emotionally abused by my mother, and most of Tiktok hates me, and yes, my mother is Kellyanne Conway? Can she even say those things considering she lives with Kellyanne??”

If 2020 has proven anything, next year will be quite a year for reality television