in a text exchange, "Frankly they were terrorists in Bowling Green but their massacre took place in Iraq." 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. 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". Reactions The video clip of Conway's "massacre" statement went viral online, with the phrase becoming the top trending topic on Twitter. Some Twitter users wrote that, despite Conway's clarification, substituting "terrorists" for "massacre" in her statement did not make sense. Her statement was parodied on Twitter and other platforms with people creating fake tributes. A website was set up anonymously for the purpose of collecting donations for victims of the imaginary massacre; the donation link on the website goes to the ACLU's donation page. Facebook users mocked the Bowling Green massacre by using Facebook's safety check feature to pretend the event was real. In New York City's Bowling Green, people held a mock vigil to commemorate the "victims" of the "massacre". Another mock vigil took place on February 3, 2017, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Responses on the Donald Trump-centric subreddit /r/The_Donald were "varied – and rather muted", with some redditors speculating that it was an intentional part of a larger strategy by the Trump administration. Samantha Schmidt wrote in The Washington Post: "Conway has taken 'alternative facts' to a new level". The Atlantic wrote that her "false statement stands out because it is simultaneously inaccurate and has the potential to be extremely inflammatory". Brian Stelter on CNN criticized the Trump administration for "hammering" the media for mistakes but going easy on Conway's error. British journalist Marina Hyde wrote a column in The Guardian criticizing the Trump administration for creating a fictional massacre when it was silent on the Quebec City mosque shooting. UK talk show The Last Leg's Alex Brooker commented: "Are there so few shootings in America that they're having to make them up?" Cosmopolitan reporter Kristen Mascia said: "It didn't surprise me that the comment was premeditated and that she'd tried it on multiple writers (who knows who else she auditioned it with, frankly). But others out there may not know this about her,