Why was Dwayne Johnson's wax statue redone? Backlash explored 

American star Dwayne Johnson's wax statue, which was unveiled on Monday, October 16, 2023, received a heavy backlash from fans and the actor alike. The wax statue was unveiled at the renowned Musée Grévin in Paris. Although the monument accurately captures the former professional wrestler's body and characteristics, some felt it still missed something, with many pointing out that the light skin tone on the statue did not befit the actor at all.

The Musée Grévin in Paris accepted their mistake and redid the statue to make it look closer to the actor in all aspects. The 51-year-old Johnson's complexion is darker in the updated wax figure, and his facial botox has also been reduced.

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Why did Dwayne Johnson's Wax Statue have to be redone?

When The Musée Grévin in Paris unveiled Dwayne Johnson's wax statue to honor the great actor, little did they know that they would face such a backlash. Netizens called out the figurine and even compared it to the mascot of the cleaning product 'Mr. Clean'.

The wax statue was heavily criticized for being a whitewashed version of the actor. Johnson responded to the original sculpture earlier this week, which went viral just before a similarly erroneous sculpture of Lil Wayne did. 'The Rock' stated on Instagram on Monday that his team would reach out to the museum to request changes to his statue.

After his team reached out to the Grévin Museum in Paris, Dwayne Johnson's melanin was restored to his wax figure. The venue replaced the original statue with one that more closely matches the actor's skin tone after facing criticism for whitewashing it over the course of a weekend.

Veronique Berecz, who handles public relations for the museum responded to white-washing claims to Variety, with the following:

“This has nothing to do with it — we just made an honest mistake based on the photos we looked at. After we saw all these reactions on different blogs and social networks, we changed it immediately.”

She stated that it is difficult for the artists to sculpt someone who they have not seen in front of them and sculpting someone based on just their pictures does have its drawbacks. She said:

"But as it turns out, pictures can be very tricky because the nuances of skin tones can differ depending on the lighting on photos. Every time, the sculptor has to determine the exact face and body shapes, the volumes and it’s always a very complicated challenge if we haven’t met the person"

In an attempt to locate a man with the remarkable stature of Dwayne Johnson, the sculpting team even visited gyms. The museum stated that the three redos of the statue's eyes were done to avoid a very dark tint making the star's face too hard and erasing its warm aspect. Dwayne Johnson's Samoan tattoos took the painters ten days of intense work and extensive research.

Approximately 450 figurines from French history exist in the museum, some of which date back to the museum's original opening in the late 19th century and include original wax figures. Prominent politicians, scientists, entertainers, musicians, and athletes are among the modern figures in it.