‘Melanin Deficient’ – Dwayne Johnson Wax Statue Attracting Widespread Ridicule
The Musée Grévin unveiled a wax statue of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson last week but it swiftly attracted ridicule on social media, as well as from the professional wrestler turned actor himself.
The museum in Paris that specialises in wax figures of famous people has been criticised for “whitewashing” the statue of California-born Johnson, who is multi-ethnic.
The Fast and Furious star’s late father, the wrestler Rocky Johnson, was of Black Nova Scotian descent and his mother, Ata Maivia, is Samoan.
Johnson Reposts Clip Of Comedian Jefferson Jr Making Fun Of Statue
“They whitewashed The Rock,” wrote a user on X, previously called Twitter, while Instagram account the Shade Room called the figure “melanin deficient”.
On Sunday evening, Johnson reposted a video to his Instagram page of comedian James Andre Jefferson Jr making fun of the statue at the Grévin Museum.
“You made The Rock look like he David Beckham,” Jefferson Jr said in his video. “It look like The Rock about to be part of the royal family!”
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The Rock Wants Wax Figure To Be Updated With “Some Important Details”
Reposting the comedian’s clip, Dwayne Johnson said: “I knew my boy @jamesjeffersonj had this Rock wax statue in his roasting crosshair.”
The actor wrote he was going to have his team contact the Paris museum “so we can work at ‘updating’ my wax figure here with some important details and improvements.”
He noted the need to give the waxwork a do-over, highlighting “starting with my skin colour”, adding: “Next time I’m in Paris, I’ll stop in and have a drink with myself.”
Grévin Museum Working On Improving The Dwayne Johnson Wax Figure
Stressing “your feedback is always valuable to us”, the Musée Grévin on Monday afternoon said on Instagram its artists were “working on improving” the statue.
Upon unveiling the work last week, the museum said its creation had “presented many challenges” to sculptor Stéphane Barret, who had to rely on photos and videos alone.
The statue’s eyes were redone three times, the museum wrote, adding Johnson’s Samoan tattoos took the painters days of painstaking work and research.
