--- title: Kellyanne Conway: I ‘Meant No Disrespect’ With Feet on Couch description: Kellyanne Conway “meant no disrespect” by kneeling on a sofa in the Oval Office amid controversy over her casual pose, she said. canonical: https://time.com/4686876/kellyanne-conway-meant-no-disrespect-couch-photo/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-01T12:34:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:46:07.277Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kellyanne Conway: I ‘Meant No Disrespect’ by Kneeling on White House Couch og:description: "I didn’t mean to have my feet on the couch" og:url: https://time.com/4686876/kellyanne-conway-meant-no-disrespect-couch-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa90919a22736d24/6988bc7c656a3f29dabcef7e/kellyanne-conway.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kellyanne Conway: I ‘Meant No Disrespect’ by Kneeling on White House Couch twitter:description: "I didn’t mean to have my feet on the couch" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa90919a22736d24/6988bc7c656a3f29dabcef7e/kellyanne-conway.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kellyanne Conway Says She ‘Meant No Disrespect’ by Kneeling on White House Couch > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Mar 1, 2017 12:34 PM UTC  In February, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway was photographed kneeling on a couch in the Oval Office to snap a shot of the President’s listening session with a group of leaders from historically black universities. Her casual pose —which some took issue with — was quickly catapulted to memedom, with takes both silly and surprisingly artistic. Saturday Night Live even used it as a running joke throughout an episode. In response, Conway said she wished people focused on the meeting instead. Tall order Conway. In February, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway was photographed kneeling on a couch in the Oval Office to snap a shot of the President’s listening session with a group of leaders from historically black universities. Her casual pose —which some took issue with — was quickly catapulted to memedom, with takes both silly and surprisingly artistic. Saturday Night Live even used it as a running joke throughout an episode. In response, Conway said she wished people focused on the meeting instead. Tall order Conway. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Mar 1, 2017 12:34 PM UTC [Kellyanne Conway](http://time.com/4685807/kellyanne-conway-oval-office-presidents-history/) said in a new interview Tuesday that she “meant no disrespect” by [kneeling on a sofa in the Oval Office](http://time.com/4685269/kellyanne-conway-oval-office-photo/) amid controversy over her casual pose. The counselor to President Donald Trump [told](https://twitter.com/LouDobbs/status/836722659773804546?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) _Lou Dobbs Tonight_ that she was trying to get a good photograph after being asked to take a snapshot of Trump’s meeting with leaders from historically black colleges and universities in the crowded Oval Office. “I was asked to take a certain angle and was doing exactly that,” she said. “I certainly meant no disrespect. I didn’t mean to have my feet on the couch.” > [](https://twitter.com/LouDobbs/status/836722659773804546) Conway said she took the image on a cellphone from the couch and was checking to make sure it was OK when she was captured in the kneeling pose with her feet tucked under her. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4686876/kellyanne-conway-meant-no-disrespect-couch-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4686876/kellyanne-conway-meant-no-disrespect-couch-photo/"},"headline":"Kellyanne Conway Says She ‘Meant No Disrespect’ by Kneeling on White House Couch","datePublished":"2017-03-01T12:34:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:46:07.277Z","description":"\"I didn’t mean to have my feet on the couch\"","url":"https://time.com/4686876/kellyanne-conway-meant-no-disrespect-couch-photo/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa90919a22736d24/6988bc7c656a3f29dabcef7e/kellyanne-conway.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa90919a22736d24/6988bc7c656a3f29dabcef7e/kellyanne-conway.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP","caption":"Kellyanne Conway (L) checks her phone after taking a photo as President Donald Trump and leaders of historically black universities and colleges pose for a group photo in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4686876/kellyanne-conway-meant-no-disrespect-couch-photo/","name":"Kellyanne Conway Says She ‘Meant No Disrespect’ by Kneeling on White House Couch"}}]}] ```