L Brands, Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek issued an apology after saying he didn’t think the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show should cast transgender models.
In an interview with Vogue, Razek refers to transgender people as “transsexuals” and says transgender models shouldn’t be cast because “the show is a fantasy.”
“The brand has a specific image, has a point of view. It has a history,” Razek says. “It’s hard to build a brand. It’s hard to build Vogue, Ralph Lauren, Apple, Starbucks. You have a brand position and you have a brand point of view. The girls who have earned their way into the show have worked for it.”
“If you’re asking if we’ve considered putting a transgender model in the show or looked at putting a plus-size model in the show, we have,” Razek continued. “So it’s like, why don’t you do 50? Why don’t you do 60? Why don’t you do 24? 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. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is. It is the only one of its kind in the world, and any other fashion brand in the world would take it in a minute, including the competitors that are carping at us. And they carp at us because we’re the leader. They don’t talk about each other. I accept that.”
His comments received plenty of backlash especially from transgender and plus-size models.
All this VS drama got me feeling so nauseous.
— CARMEN CARRERA (@Carmen_Carrera) November 10, 2018
The worst feeling in the world is knowing you have what it takes but are being denied simply for being who you are.
— CARMEN CARRERA (@Carmen_Carrera) November 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/MkFerlita/status/1061510794146385920
https://twitter.com/Tess_Holliday/status/1061314014964154368
Razek issues an apology via Victoria’s Secret saying that his remarks “came across as insensitive” and that Victoria’s Secret would “absolutely cast a transgender model…We’ve had transgender models come to castings…And like many others, they didn’t make it…But it was never about gender.”
Please read this important message from Ed Razek, Chief Marketing Officer, L Brands (parent company of Victoria’s Secret). pic.twitter.com/CW8BztmOaM
— Victoria's Secret (@VictoriasSecret) November 10, 2018
The apology was too little too late for some people.
Chile that weak ass apology!!! Keep it!!! "It's not about gender"?? Girl bye and girl stop!! It's ridiculous in 2018 and with all that's going on in the world, your company would say something so heinous and discriminatory. Who is y'all publicist??#problematicAF #CANCELLED
— Alexandra Grey (@1alexandragrey) November 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/MsIsisKing/status/1061224042546421760
There has yet to be a transgender model to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show since the show’s conception in 1995.
