Victoria's Secret Hires First Transgender Model
Valentina Sampaio has become the first openly transgender model hired by Victoria’s Secret nearly a year after a top company official was pressured to apologize for implying transgender women are off brand.
Sampaio, a Brazilian, has been posting from behind the scenes of a VS Pink campaign to the delight of celebrities who include Laverne Cox.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0oDsqnC2am/
Cox who is also transgender, posted on one of Sampaio’s photos:
“Wow finally!”
Last November, marketing officer Ed Razek of parent L Brands Inc., said in a Vogue interview that the annual Victoria’s Secret angels TV special would never include “transsexuals” because “the show is a fantasy.”
He apologized after outrage ensued.
Sampaio was not hired for the show.
The company is rethinking having one at all after ratings sagged last time around.
Transgender activists on Twitter were not content, however, arguing that it should have been done sooner, that the company should have included more “gender non-conforming” women and that the apology simply did not make up for Razek’s initial remark.
Victoria Secret could have given us a roster of Trans girls, of different Sshapes sizes and colors, but instead they found one of our girls that “Fits the Fantasy” they wanna grab as much money as possible by doing the least amount of work! MY POINT!
— Tyra Kiari Lashai (@GayByTy) August 4, 2019
Unpopular opinion: Victoria secret hired the trans model for clout and doesn’t change the fact that they said they can’t sell fantasy and if you think they changed their minds on that opinion then idk what to tell y’all lmao
— youll never be glam (@ITZ_JAMEZZ) August 5, 2019
“Victoria Secret could have given us a roster of Trans girls, of different Sshapes sizes and colors,” one user wrote.
“But instead they found one of our girls that ‘Fits the Fantasy’ they wanna grab as much money as possible by doing the least amount of work!”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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