Victoria’s Secret Is Receiving Backlash For An Exec’s Response When Asked About Including Plus-Size And Transgender Models In Their Runway Shows

People are raising their brows at some recent comments a #VictoriaSecret executive made in an interview with #Vogue about #transgender and plus-size models and now the higher ups have issued an apology.

The remarks were made by Victoria Secret’s Chief Marketing Officer #EdRazek when he was asked to explain why the lingerie brand does not include transgender or plus-size models in its Victoria Secret Fashion Show, according to @hollywoodreporter. “It’s like why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy,” Razek said in the interview. “It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is.”

He added that he and the Victoria’s Secret team have previously thought of casting trans and plus-size models but ultimately decided against doing so. “We market to who we sell to, and we don’t market to the whole world. We attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes (in 2000). No one had any interest in it, still don’t.”

His words upset a lot of people and prompted Razek and L Brands, Victoria Secret’s parent company, to issue an apology as his remarks “came across as insensitive.”

“To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show,” the statement read. “We’ve had transgender models come to castings… And like many others, they didn’t make it … But it was never about gender. I admire and respect their journey to embrace who they really are.”

Despite his apology, the Model Alliance issued a statement in response to what they said were his “hurtful comments.”

“We are disappointed by the recent comments about trans and plus-size models made by Ed Razek, CMO of L Brands, Victoria’s Secret’s parent company,” the organization wrote in an Instragram post. “Such comments create a hostile work environment for people who do not conform to Victoria’s Secret’s mold — one that enforces an idea of female beauty that is predominantly white, cisgender, young and thin.”

#Roommates, do you think Victoria Secret should be more inclusive in their runway shows? Let us know!

TSR STAFF: Christina C! @cdelafresh