The hideous, suspiciously light-skinned Beyoncé wax statue that was recently unveiled at Manhattan’s Madame Tussauds is now reportedly off the floor, probably because it looks nothing like her.
When photos of the statue began to go viral people were quick to note that the statue looked a rando blonde white woman, an uncanny composite of celebrities like Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears.
A staff member at the building told the New York Times that the statue was “off the floor until further notice” but did not elaborate. A museum representative also declined to comment and, no surprise here, reps for Beyoncé did not offer comment either.
I probably don’t need to remind everyone that Beyoncé is masterfully in control of her image and the ways in which it is distributed. And why wouldn’t she be in control! She’s good at it, just look at her baby photos. But this is someone whose publicist once asked Buzzfeed to remove unflattering photos of her and has an entire room in her house dedicated to her own archive (which every celebrity should have, I mean that sincerely.) I’m pretty sure that if she wanted the wax figure removed, she could easily get it removed.
Or, maybe, Beyoncé is constructing a rival museum filled with a chronological timeline of wax figure Beyoncés at different stages in her career? It could be like the Epcot Spaceship Earth ride except instead of walking you through the history of how technology changed earth, it’s about how Beyoncé changed it. So, naturally, Tussauds would no longer have the rights to make wax Beyoncés anymore and that’s why it was removed, duh.
I’m going with this theory, thank you.
Update, 12:52 P.M.: Turns out the figure is back now with fixed lighting. “We love, respect and enjoy a working relationship with Beyoncé” told SPIN in a statement. “We have adjusted the styling and lighting of her figure and she is on display at Madame Tussauds New York.”