Paris museum starts skin tone fix on Dwayne Johnson’s wax figure
By Carl Samson
October 26, 2023
A museum in Paris has begun updates on a wax figure of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson after its skin tone sparked controversy earlier this week.
Driving the news: The Musée Grévin, which creates wax figures of celebrities, initially unveiled a light-skinned replica of the 51-year-old actor. This drew accusations of whitewashing on social media, as Johnson is Black and Samoan.
Johnson’s response: Amid the chorus of criticism, Johnson announced on Instagram that his team would reach out to the museum so they can work to update his figure with “some important details and improvements — starting with my skin color.”
“And next time I’m in Paris, I’ll stop in and have a drink with myself,” he added.
What the museum is saying: On Wednesday, Musée Grévin Managing Director Yves Delhommeau shared an updated version of Johnson’s wax figure. He acknowledged that the skin tone of the original version “seemed too pale” and that they realized “we might have got it wrong.”
Delhommeau went on to explain that painting on wax is a long and “very complicated” process, with painters relying on photos that appear to differ from each other. It is unclear what changes Wednesday’s version had incorporated, but Instagram users urged the museum to keep the updates going.
“We’re going to work on this amazing waxwork so it better represents him,” Delhommeau said. “We’re going to keep improving it!”
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