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Alexandra Burke responds to that infamous 'elephant in the room' interview clip

Alexandra Burke's
Alexandra Burke's "elephant in the room" interview has become a recurring internet joke. (Joe Maher/Getty Images)

A clip of Alexandra Burke discussing the phrase "elephant in the room" has been a viral internet sensation for almost a decade — but the singer is taking it in good humour.

The infamous moment took place during an interview with Burke on the ITV show Daybreak in 2012, when she was promoting her single Elephant.

She described the song as being inspired by a relationship that "wasn't going according to plan" before appearing to take credit for introducing Brits to the well-known saying.

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Burke said: "Clearly nobody wanted to talk about it, so there was an elephant in the room.

"I had never heard of the saying before until I did my writing camp for the album. It’s a very American saying, so I thought why not be the first person to bring it over here and make it into a song?"

Unfortunately for Burke, the phrase "elephant in the room" is believed to have originated from Russian poet Ivan Krylov in 1814 and was used in the British Journal of Education at least a century ago — so she probably can't claim to be a trend-setter in that arena.

The clip recently resurfaced thanks to popular meme page @loveofhuns on Instagram, on which numerous Burke clips appear regularly, including her beloved "okay dot com" putdown to Louis Walsh on The X Factor

Burke has told Tyla she now finds the "elephant in the room" interview and its online notoriety "quite funny".

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She said: "It makes people smile. It’s such a light-hearted page to make people laugh, which is what we’ve all really needed over the last year or so.

"We all need to have a good laugh, and if an Instagram page can provide that to people, then we’re all winning at life."

Watch: Alexandra Burke urges people to be kinder on social media

Burke rose to fame when she won The X Factor in 2008 and scored a Christmas number one with her winner's single — a cover of Hallelujah.

She then achieved three further number ones with singles from her debut album Overcome.

Read more: Where are all of the X Factor winners now?

Burke has spoken openly about the racism she has faced in the music industry, including claiming she was told to bleach her skin in the wake of The X Factor to earn further success.

Earlier this year, she said: "That’s what is so f***ed up about this industry and that is what makes me feel, at times, where I go, ‘I don't want to be in this industry’. They took my confidence away so much that I couldn't be me.”

Watch: Alexandra Burke discusses being told to bleach her skin