Emilia Clarke did not get the typical red carpet treatment Tuesday at the Australian premiere of “House of Dragon.”
The British actress was instead branded as “short and dumpy” by Patrick Delany, the CEO of Australia’s Foxtel TV subscription company.
Delany appeared at the Sydney shindig to give a speech to the audience before previewing the first episode of the HBO’s hotly anticipated “Game of Thrones” prequel series.
“I was like, ‘What’s this show with the short, dumpy girl walking into the fire?'” Delaney remarked in reference to the famous scene where Clarke walks into a bonfire to hatch her dragons, Crikey reported. The Aussie news outlet noted that the audience was audibly shocked.
“It felt like he was expecting us to laugh along but people in the room were obviously shocked by it,” one partygoer told the publication, while another added: “There was a bit of a gasp.”
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who reps the Aussie Greens party, said the comment “went down like a lead balloon,” according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Film critic Travis Johnson, who also attended the premiere, tweeted that he “turned to my mate for clarification as I simply didn’t believe someone would say that on mic.”
A spokesperson for the company promptly apologized for Delany’s comment, saying “The Foxtel Group apologies if his remarks were misunderstood and caused any offense.”
The statement continued, “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.”
The Post has reached out to Clarke’s reps for comment about the incident.
Clarke famously portrayed Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s fantasy series “Game of Thrones.” Clarke, 35, appeared in the iconic HBO fantasy series “Game of Thrones” from 2011 until 2019.
“House of the Dragon” is set to air on Aug. 21 on HBO Max and HBO — and follows the House of Taegaryn 200 years before the parent show.
The series stars Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine, Emma D’Arcy, Milly Alcock and Rhys Ifan. While the drama is set to have scaled back its sex scenes, Smith, 39, still wondered if the 10-episode season has too much.
“You do find yourself asking, ‘Do we need another sex scene?’ “Yeah — slightly too much, if you ask me,” Smith, 39, star told Rolling Stone recently. “And they’re like, ‘Yeah, we do.’ I guess you have to ask yourself: ‘What are you doing? Are you representing the books, or are you diluting the books to represent the time [we’re living in]?’”
“The Crown” star added, “And I actually think it’s your job to represent the books truthfully and honestly, as they were written.”
“House of Dragon,” starring Matt Smith, is set 200 years before the start of “Game of Thrones.”Photograph by Ollie Upton/HBO
