On Wednesday, White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said it was “wrong” for a White House staffer to allegedly refer to COVID-19 as “the Kung Flu,” but she refused to fully address the allegation when reporters wouldn’t give her a name.
“I’m not dealing in hypotheticals,” Conway said when asked for her response to the comment. “Of course it’s wrong, but you can’t just make an accusation without saying who it is.”
She demanded to know the identity of the staffer, who had reportedly made the remark to CBS News correspondent Weijia Jian on Tuesday.
When reporters kept pressing her on the issue, Conway pointed to her half-Filipino husband, George Conway.
“I’m not going to engage in hypotheticals,” the adviser said. “I’m married to an Asian. My kids are, partly … my kids are 25 percent Filipino.”
Conway continued to demand for a name, and grew frustrated when the reporters explained that they couldn’t reveal their sources.
“Why don’t we go to the source? I certainly didn’t say it. I don’t believe it,” she said. “So why don’t we go to the source and tell them that’s very hurtful and unhelpful for what we’re all trying to do.”
President Donald Trump has recently taken to calling COVID-19 “the Chinese virus” despite warnings that doing so stigmatizes Chinese-Americans.
