Emilia Clarke Gets Apology from Australian TV Executive Who Called Her a 'Short, Dumpy Girl'

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Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany is taking back what he said about Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke.

During the premiere of the show's spin-off House of the Dragon in Sydney earlier this week, Delany spoke to the audience before the screening started.

In his speech, the CEO recounted how he was late to start watching Game of Thrones, a show in which Clarke starred as Daenerys Targaryen. "I was like, 'What's this show with the short, dumpy girl walking into the fire?'" he said, Crikey reported.

According to the outlet, the executive's comments rubbed the crowd the wrong way. "It felt like he was expecting us to laugh along, but people in the room were obviously shocked by it," attendees said of the moment to Crikey. "There was a bit of a gasp."

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Amid the backlash to his comments, a spokesperson for the Foxtel Group clarified his comments to The Wrap on Wednesday. "The Foxtel Group apologies if his remarks were misunderstood and caused any offense," the statement from the company read.

"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 company continued.

Clarke's representatives did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

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RELATED: Game of Thrones: All the Spinoffs in the Works and What We Know So Far

House of the Dragon, the highly-anticipated spinoff series to Game of Thrones will be arriving to the small screen on August 21.

The 10-episode drama is based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood and follows the Targaryen civil war, which occurred about 200 years before the events that unfolded in HBO's eight-season hit.

The cast includes Matt Smith (Prince Daemon Targaryen), Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower), Emma D'Arcy (Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen), Rhys Ifans (Otto Hightower), Steve Toussaint (Lord Corlys Velaryon), Eve Best (Rhaenys Velaryon), Paddy Considine (Viserys Targaryen), Fabien Frankel (Criston Cole) and Sonoya Mizuno (Mysaria).

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Game of Thrones wrapped its eight-season run on HBO in May 2019. Since then, multiple spinoff series have been in various stages of development at HBO.

House of the Dragon will begin streaming on August 21 on HBO Max.