Halsey slams Victoria’s Secret anti-trans comments over ‘lack of inclusivity’
(Getty)
Singer Halsey has criticised a senior executive at Victoria Secret’s parent company for saying trans models shouldn’t be in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show because the event is a “fantasy.”
Halsey was involved in the filming for the event on November before Ed Razek, chief marketing officer for L Brands, made the anti-trans comments during an interview with Vogue.
Taking to Instagram on Monday (December 3), Halsey said that she has “adored” the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show since she was young, but that she “simply cannot ignore” Razek’s remarks.
Halsey criticised the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show for its “lack of inclusivity.” (iamhalsey/Instagram)
Halsey calls out Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
“As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have no tolerance for a lack of inclusivity,” she wrote.
“Especially not one motivated by stereotype.”
Halsey urged those watching her Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show performance, broadcast on Sunday night (December 2), to donate to Global Social Entrepreneurship Network (GLSEN), an organisation with support services for LGBT+ youth.
“As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have no tolerance for a lack of inclusivity.”
—Halsey
Halsey said that she had made a “sizeable” donation to GSEN.
“If you are a trans person reading this, and these comments have made you feel alienated or invalidate please know that you have allies,” added Halsey.
“We stand in solidarity, and complete and total acceptance is the only ‘fantasy’ that I support.”
Ed Razek with Victoria’s Secret models (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty)
Razek: “I don’t think we should” have trans models at Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
Speaking to Vogue in an interview published on November 8, Razek responded to a question about whether Instagram users are looking for “something new” from Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
Razek said: “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.”
Razek later apologised for his comments in a post on Victoria Secret’s Twitter account, saying that the event had auditioned trans models.
“My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show came across as insensitive,” he said. “I apologise.”
