Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany has found himself in hot soup after he made some insulting remarks about Game of Thrones (GoT) star Emilia Clarke before a screening of the show’s new spinoff series, House of the Dragon, in Sydney. Delany, while saying that he was late to jump on the GoT bandwagon, remarked, “I was like, ‘What’s this show with the short, dumpy girl walking into the fire?’”

The comment was met with criticism from GoT fans present at the screening. Crikey, an Australian media outlet, talked to a fan who was present at the event, who said, “It felt like he was expecting us to laugh along…but people in the room were obviously shocked by it.”

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Travis Johnson, an Australian film critic who was also present at the screening, to Twitter to explain his shock at the words uttered by Delany:

The Wrap reports that a Foxtel spokesperson has issued an apology about the comments, saying, “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”.

Clarke was 23 when she first signed on to portray the character of Daenerys Targaryen in GoT. Her performance and the show’s popularity soon made Clarke a household name. She has not made any public comment about the remarks made by Delaney.

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House of the Dragon is set to premiere on August 21 and its first season will have 10 episodes in total. The series centers around Daenerys’ family, the Targaryens, and deals with events 200 years before Game of Thrones. Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and Milly Alcock, members of the House of the Dragon cast, were present at the Sydney premiere where this gaffe took place.