Claudia Conway's Ethically Questionable Audition Clip from American Idol

This clip from Sunday night's season premiere of American Idol has been turning heads, as it features 16-year-old Claudia Conway's audition for the show.

Conway is the daughter of former Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway and the vocally anti-Trump George Conway. She has alleged that her mother has abused her verbally and physically, which is part of an ongoing investigation, and she has previously even sought emancipation from her parents. This has raised serious concerns that the show is exploiting a child abuse case for ratings. Making things a little more creepy is that George was there with her for moral support, andthere was a sequence where she and her mother talk via a giant television screen about how this is a chance people dream of, as if none of their public family turmoil had ever happened.

Judge Katy Perry's first question to her was "Are you okay?" Luke Bryan had no idea who she was. Conway seemed to indicate that things were okay, and insisted she wanted to "get out of the controversy, get out of the drama, get out of the political whatever, and let people know that I am a singer. This is what I want to do." 

Conway got off to a rocky start with a Rihanna song, but recovered enough with Adele's "When We Were Young" that Lionel Richie and Perry both voted to send her to Hollywood.

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Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.