Dwayne Johnson’s new wax figure is ‘missing melanin.’ He’s taking matters into his own sun-kissed hands
The Rock or Mr. Clean? That’s what a newly revealed wax figure at the Grévin Museum in Paris has fans of Dwayne Johnson pondering.
When the Grévin unveiled its latest wax star last week, netizens quickly began roasting the figure, which seemingly lacked Johnson’s skin tone. In the comments, Instagram users noticed that The Rock statue was “missing melanin” and overlooked his mixed Black and Samoan heritage.
Comedian James Jefferson joked that Johnson look like he’s “about to be part of the royal family,” and took shots at the team behind the wax figure. “I don’t want you on Sims building a character. No arts and crafts,” he said in a video posted Saturday.
Dwayne Johnson addressed the backlash to the People’s Fund of Maui, which he helped start with Oprah, and says he gets it: “I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck.”
He added: “It don’t look like him no more.”
The actor-entrepreneur re-shared Jefferson’s clip on Instagram, admitting that he “legit belly laughed” at “The Circle” comedian’s jokes. Then he told fans that he’s taking matters into his own large, brown hands.
“I’m going to have my team reach out to our friends at Grevin Museum, in Paris France 🇫🇷 so we can work at ‘updating’ my wax figure here with some important details and improvements- starting with my skin color 🤣✊🏾💪🏾,” the “Black Adam” star wrote Sunday.
Madame Tussauds London stirred up Zendaya’s fan base this week with its reveal of the “Euphoria” star’s wax figure, which some think “looks like a Kardasahian.”
The Grévin Museum announced its Rock wax figure earlier this month.
Leading up to the grand reveal, the museum gave followers a glimpse of what went into its latest display — including Johnson’s signature tattoos.
In a video, the museum said it took artists 10 days to re-create the details of Johnson’s intricate body art. The video’s caption reads: “So much research was necessary to match The Rock’s [tattoos] perfectly!” It seems as if something else should have gotten the same amount of research.
Sculptor Stéphane Barret said in a press release that her team “worked on his face and eyes several times.
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“The most complicated thing about realism is getting the statue to come alive from the visitors’ perspective,” he said.
In a statement shared to its Instagram story on Monday, the Grévin Museum said artists “are already working on improving” their re-creation of The Rock. According to the BBC, the Grévin staff “worked overnight” to correct the figures’ light skin tone, which museum director Yves Delhommeau had said was a result of a “lighting issue.”
Delhommeau added that the actor would “see if there are other modifications that need to be made.”
Johnson is the latest celebrity to get a wonky wax figure of themselves. Last year, Madame Tussauds caught heat for its Zendaya wax figure, which had fans thinking it was anyone else but the “Euphoria” star. In 2017, Tussauds botched its Beyoncé figure only to reveal a better one in 2019 after an outcry.
Madame Tussauds has shared details about two new wax figures of Rihanna in the works — just in time for the singer’s Super Bowl halftime show.
In recent years Rihanna and Nicki Minaj have had wax figures made in their likeness — for better or worse. “Black Panther” star Angela Bassett and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker are also among the lucky handful to have scarily accurate lifelike figures of their own.
Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.
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