The sky is pink-and-yellow polka dot, the ocean is made of chocolate, money grows on trees and there were more people at Donald Trump's inauguration than at any other inauguration in history.

These are just a few "alternative facts" (i.e. false claims) one can choose to believe, if one does not believe verified through video, photos, transit system traffic, hotel vacancies, eye witness reports and TV ratings companies.

Trump counsellor Kellyanne Conway has dismissed accusations that the White House shared falsehoods about the inauguration crowd, after press secretary Sean Spicer falsely claimed it was "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration 鈥� period 鈥� both in person and around the globe." Spicer's comments came on the same day Trump himself claimed the crowd was packed "all the way back to the Washington Monument."

A ratings report from shows the Trump inauguration had the fifth-largest audience for an inauguration in history.  Photos of the crowd on Friday also appear to show it did not fill the area between the White House and the Washington Monument, as it did for Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.

"Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternate facts to that," Kellyanne Conway, counsellor to the president, told on Sunday.

Conway's remarks came after she was asked by show host Chuck Todd about why Spicer would utter a falsehood in his first address to the media. "It undermines the credibility of the entire White House press office on Day One," he said.

"No it doesn't," Conway said, calling Todd's characterization "overly dramatic."

Speaking at the CIA on Saturday, Trump of lying about the size of the crowd at his inauguration.

The National Parks Service does not release crowd estimates for inaugurations anymore, because of how frequently they become fodder for political discussion.

The crowd from Trump's inauguration is shown below, on the left, and the one from Obama's in 2009 is shown on the right.

Inauguration Crowd Size Obama vs Trump

This tweet from CTV National News senior broadcast producer Rosa Hwang shows the view from the opposite angle.

Conway's comments sparked the sarcasm and anger of many on Twitter, who tweeted their own tongue-in-cheek "alternative facts."

The incident also triggered a flurry of references to George Orwell's iconic work of dystopian fiction, "1984." Orwell's work of political satire offered a bleak picture of a future in which the popular vocabulary is constantly being rewritten to normalize harsh government actions, and to make it impossible to criticize the ruling party.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their most essential command," Orwell wrote, in the most frequently-cited quote on Sunday. "And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed 鈥� if all records told the same tale 鈥� then the lie passed into history and became the truth."

Andrew MacDougall, former director of communications for ex-PM Stephen Harper, blasted Spicer for his "cray cray" appearance on Twitter. "Folks, I can honestly say I would have quit if asked to debase myself like (Sean Spicer) just did," MacDougall Saturday night.

MacDougall's tweet came in response to Ari Fleisher, former White House press secretary to George W. Bush. "This is called a statement you're told to make by the President," Fleisher on Saturday. "And you know the President is watching."

Jay Carney, who worked as Barack Obama's press secretary, said he never would have been told to lie. "Today was not normal," he said.

With files from The Associated Press