Emilia Clarke was labeled a "short, dumpy girl" by Patrick Delany, the CEO of Australia’s Foxtel TV subscription company, at the premiere of the new Game of Thrones spinoff series, House of the Dragon. Delany has since apologized for the poorly-received comment he made while addressing the audience at the event.
“I was like, ‘What’s this show with the short, dumpy girl walking into the fire?'” Delany recalled thinking when he first saw Game of Thrones.
The audience was reportedly stunned by the comment.
“It felt like he was expecting us to laugh along but people in the room were obviously shocked by it,” one partygoer told the Australian publication Crikey, while another added: “There was a bit of a gasp.”
A spokesperson for the company has since released an apology on Delany's behalf, explaining that his remark was simply "misunderstood."
The statement reads: “The Foxtel Group apologies if his remarks were misunderstood and caused any offense…. The aim was to convey that for him, ‘Games of Thrones’ was something very different for television in 2011 and that Emilia Clarke went from relatively unknown to one of the most recognized and most-loved actors in television and film.”
House of the Dragon is set to debut on HBO on Sunday, Aug. 21. The highly-anticipated show stars Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, as well as Milly Alcock, and will follow the House of Taegaryn 200 years prior to the events of Game of Thrones. Check out a trailer for the series below.
[Via]
