Sue Perkins has apologised after accidentally misgendering Emma D’Arcy while presenting from the red carpet of the House Of The Dragon season two premiere.
On Monday night, the former Great British Bake Off host interviewed the House Of The Dragon cast at a London screening, with one clip in particular capturing people’s attention.
A widely-shared clip showed Sue using feminine pronouns to refer to Emma, who is non-binary, while interviewing their co-star Matt Smith.
“Aren’t they brilliant?” the Emmy winner responded, later adding: “They are absolutely brilliant and you’re in for a real treat with Emma this year, I think.”
With several media outlets having picked up on the clip, Sue quickly responded on X (formerly Twitter).
“It was a shitty mistake,” she began, claiming she “had loads of stuff going on in my earpiece” and therefore “wasn’t as focussed as I should have been”.
“No excuses though,” Sue continued. “These things matter and I feel terrible about it. Am a massive fan of their work and would never want to be disrespectful.”
When one X user questioned if Sue would be apologising “directly to Emma”, the comic replied: “Of course I will.”
Emma opened up about their gender identity and navigating the acting industry as a non-binary person during an interview with E! News last year.
“When I was starting out, I really felt that I had to pretend, to present as a woman in order to find success in this industry,” they said.
“Anyway, it wasn’t sustainable, and I stopped pretending. And weirdly, it’s at that point that I got nominated for Best Actress at the Golden Globes. Which is beautifully ironic.”
They added: “I think the most important thing is that it implies that the space for trans people and gender-nonconforming people is getting bigger all the time. So, I feel very privileged.”
Emma also described themself as a “trans-masc presenting person” during a 2023 interview with Highsnobiety.
This article has been updated to correct a pronoun error.