Bowling Green massacre
The Bowling Green massacre is a fictitious incident of Islamic terrorism mentioned by Kellyanne Conway, then–counselor to President Donald Trump, in interviews with Cosmopolitan and TMZ on January 29, 2017, and in an interview on the MSNBC news program Hardball with Chris Matthews on February 2, 2017. Conway cited it as justification for a travel and immigration ban from seven Muslim-majority countries enacted by United States president Donald Trump. However, no such massacre occurred. The day after the interview, Conway said she misspoke and had been referring to the 2011 arrest of two Iraqi refugees in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on charges including "attempting to provide material support to terrorists and to al-Qaeda in Iraq."[1] She stated that she had mentioned the incident because it led previous President Barack Obama to tighten immigration procedures for Iraqi citizens.
Her false statement went viral and became the top trending topic on Twitter, with many tweets parodying it. A website was set up anonymously for the purpose of collecting donations for supposed victims. Facebook users used the site's safety check feature to act as if the event were real. Mock vigils were held in Kentucky and New York in commemoration. It provoked widespread press reaction, with many relating it to Conway's earlier use of the phrase "alternative facts" to describe false statements by White House press secretary Sean Spicer in the wake of Trump's inauguration.
Aftermath[edit]
On February 3, the day after her MSNBC interview, Conway said she misspoke and that she meant to use the term "Bowling Green terrorists" instead of "Bowling Green massacre",[17] referring to the two Iraqi men arrested in 2011.[2] The Washington Post subsequently mentioned previous statements by Conway in which she had made reference to the nonexistent massacre, indicating that "now she doesn't appear to have misspoken at all; she seems to have believed that the Bowling Green massacre was a real thing."[18]
Conway's statement that the men became "radicalized" in the United States was found to be incorrect, as they had been radicalized outside of the country.[13] Conway's statement that President Obama "had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program" was misleading, as the Obama administration move was not a formal ban.[19] Contrary to Conway's claims, there is no evidence that the men had traveled back to the Middle East[13] or had any contact with ISIS after being admitted to the United States. Neither of the two was ever charged with plotting attacks inside the United States.[5]
Conway, in her February 3 statement, said that there was no coverage of the Bowling Green investigation, which she intended to refer to.[20] However, there were approximately 90 news articles that covered the arrest and charges at the time.[20] Conway's February 3 statement cited an example of that coverage, without acknowledging that her claim that "it didn't get covered" was also incorrect.[3]
On February 5, CNN declined an interview with Conway, partly because of "serious questions about her credibility" and partly because CNN could not get Mike Pence, whom the administration made available to all the other major Sunday shows.[21][22] That day, she said in a text exchange, "Frankly they were terrorists in Bowling Green but their massacre took place in Iraq."[13] Two days later, she was a guest on CNN, interviewed on air by Jake Tapper. In the interview, Conway apologized for repeatedly referencing a "Bowling Green massacre" that did not happen.[22][23]
In a March 2017 interview with New York, Conway said she intended to say "Bowling Green masterminds" rather than "Bowling Green massacre", in reference to "would-be terrorists who were apprehended before they staged an attack".[24]