A few hours after news broke on the internet that Nicki Minaj’s wax figure in Madame Tussauds’ museum in Las Vegas was getting removed, representatives of the museum took immediate action and clarified that the news about the wax figure removal were all false and that Minaj’s wax figure stays at the museum.
As per the International Business Times, the “Anaconda” singer’s wax replica was reportedly being removed in the Las Vegas museum just a month after it debuted. This is due to many sexism and racism-related controversies with museum-goers violating the statue on many occasions.
The statue’s creators modeled the figure of the 32-year-old rapper after a look from her “Anaconda” music video showing Nicki on all fours. A lot of museum-goers have definitely made Minaj’s wax figure a favorite spot where they took the statue as an open invitation to get raunchy with the singer’s replica.
According to reports, Madame Tussauds has decidedly taken action to prevent such photos to ever appear again. As per Saint Heron, the museum even beefed up their security measures to ensure visitors could not come in contact and make inappropriate poses with the “Super Bass” singer’s wax figure.
The wax museum’s branch in Las Vegas also delegated more staff to be present around the wax figure to monitor the visitor’s actions while around the rapper’s wax statue.
According to Billboard, Madame Tussauds just confirmed that Nicki’s wax figure is not going anywhere although the set for the singer’s wax figure has been altered. Nicki herself has yet to comment on the issue. In previous interviews, the “Starships” singer says she has no problem with her wax figure’s looks and poses.
This is not the first time the rapper’s statue was placed under heavy criticisms. Prior to its unveiling, Madame Tussauds was already warned that issues of racism and sexism may hit their latest creation.
Controversial female host Azealia Banks shared her thoughts on Twitter about the museum’s decision to expose the wax figure of Minaj posing in a provocative way. The 24-year-old singer tweeted that she felt it was racist and not the right representation for Minaj to be posing on her hands and knees.
The “212” rapper went on to say that given Nicki’s long list of accolades, it would have made more sense for creators to build a wax figure of the rapper standing up with a microphone in her hand.
As for the rapper herself, Nicki recently made news during this year’s VMAs. It can be recalled that while accepting the award for Best Hip-Hop video, Minaj used the opportunity onstage and took a swipe at VMA host Miley Cyrus for the comments she made during an interview with The New York Times.
In that interview, Cyrus was asked about Minaj and Taylor Swift’s feud on Twitter to which the “Wrecking Ball” singer branded the rapper as not too kind.
When asked for clarification, the former Disney star pointed standard media misinterpretation for the quote before remarking that she had lost VMAs before but didn’t complain.
While most fans think that the feisty exchange was designed to serve as a scene-stealer for the awards show, it can’t be denied that there was a definite and intense tension between the two music makers. It also marked a great opportunity for Miley to defend a quote that wasn’t particularly discerning or precise in line with Minaj’s behavior, The Verge reports.
During the VMAs, Minaj performed “Trini Dem Girls” before calling out on stage her special guest, pop singer Taylor Swift. The two then belted out “The Night Is Still Young” and hugged, signifying that the two songstresses have buried the hatchet between them already.