Emilia Clarke Was Called "Short, dumpy girl" By Foxtel CEO

Eye-Witnesses said Patrick Delany saying Emilia Clarke was a 'short, dumpy girl' was received very poorly in the room.

At the long-awaited prequel series House of the Dragon launch, Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany shocked audience members by referring to Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke as a "short, dumpy chick." 

At the Sydney premiere of the series at the Entertainment Quarter, Delany made the remarks in a speech before the first episode was shown. The veteran Foxtel executive recalled how he started watching Game of Thrones late.

“I was like, ‘What’s this show with the short, dumpy girl walking into the fire?'” he said.

According to two attendees, the response to the comment was cold.
“It felt like he was expecting us to laugh along but people in the room were obviously shocked by it,” one said. “There was a bit of a gasp,” another said.

A Foxtel Group spokesperson told Crikey that Delany’s comments were meant to be self-deprecating and light-hearted:

 “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,” they said.

“On behalf of Mr Delany, the Foxtel Group apologizes if his remarks were misunderstood and caused any offence.”

The most watched television program in the entire globe, allegedly, was Game of Thrones. It has been a crucial asset for Foxtel in Australia across all of its services.

The series finale in 2019 attracted the biggest overnight subscription television audience at the time, according to the company's press release. The highly anticipated sequel to the wildly popular series, House of the Dragon, has high ambitions of becoming a major tentpole exclusive for platforms like Binge and Foxtel. 

Clarke will make an appearance in the upcoming Marvel television series Secret Invasion; she is not in the new show.

In 2018, Delany was appointed CEO of Foxtel. He oversaw the introduction of services like Binge, Kayo, and Flash, and reportedly postponed the company's planned IPO.