Queen B needed some retouch…
Not the real Beyoncé, but her wax figure that is—or was— on display at the Midtown Manhattan location of Madame Tussauds, a museum known for its lookalike celebrity wax figures.
The model in New York didn’t please the Beyhive, which caused some vicious bashing online.
Some said the waxwork didn’t resemble the 35-year-old singer, others questioned whether that was even Beyoncé, some said it looked more like Lindsay Lohan or Shakira, but the general opinion was that the museum had whitewashed Mrs. Carter’s image. The controversy spawned the hashtag #TussaudsSoWhite.
And after only two days of being an object of ridicule all over social media, the wax figure was nowhere to be found. On Thursday afternoon, the very bad statute of Beyoncé had vanished from the museum floor, according to the New York Times. A museum staff member said the Beyoncé-gone-wrong figure was “off the floor until further notice.”
But it appears the brief removal was made solely so that the “styling and lighting” of the waxwork could be fixed.
“We love, respect and enjoy a working relationship with Beyoncé,” the museum said in a statement. “We have adjusted the styling and lighting of her figure and she is on display at Madame Tussauds New York.”
By Friday afternoon, the Beyoncé statue was, indeed, back on its place. According to the museum visitors, and people on social media, the updated version was more accurate.
Over the years, other wax debuts at Madame Tussauds have come under fire. Justin Bieber, Ryan Gosling, Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé herself in previous representations have been victims of the museum’s “talented team of sculptors” who usually take three or four months to finish a figure.
Madame Tussaud’s studio artists got her twisted. They must not know about Beyoncé!
