A Victoria's Secret executive has apologized for making 'insensitive' comment about transgender models

Getty Images/Dia Dipasupil

Ed Razek speaks to the 2018 Victoria's Secret runway models backstage during the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Pier 94 on November 8, 2018 in New York City.

• A Victoria's Secret executive apologized on Friday for an "insensitive" comment about transgender models.
• Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer of the Victoria's Secret parent company, L Brands, sparked an outcry after telling Vogue he didn't think the show should feature "transsexuals."
• He said in his apology that the company would, indeed, cast a transgender model - but none who have auditioned in the past have made the cut.

A Victoria's Secret executive apologized on Friday for saying he didn't think transgender models should be cast in the lingerie brand's annual fashion show.

Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer of the Victoria's Secret parent company, L Brands, sparked an outcry after telling Vogue in an interview that he didn't think the annual fashion shows should feature "transsexuals" because "the show is a fantasy."

"It's a 42-minute entertainment special. That's what it is," he said. "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."

Razek also said in the interview that the company had considered casting both transgender models and plus-sized models in the show in the past.

"We market to who we sell to, and we don't market to the whole world," he said. "We attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it, still don't."

Read more: Victoria's Secret says its 'runways have been culturally diverse for a long time,' but it has been accused of cultural appropriation over and over again

But Razek apologized for the remark about transgender models in a statement released by Victoria's Secret late Friday. He said the company would, indeed, cast transgender models, though none have made the cut in the past.

Here's Razek's full statement:

"My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive. I apologize. To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show. 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."