The folks over at Madame Tussauds have decided to redesign its display of their Nicki Minaj wax figure. The announcement was made in a statement following scandalous inappropriate photos with the "Anaconda" pose statue surfacing on Instagram and other social media.
Minaj's wax rendition, which was unveiled earlier this month in Las Vegas, portrays the rapstress on all fours as she appeared in her NSFW video for the Pinkprint single. Since being revealed to the public, Minaj has called the figure "iconic" and even posted pictures on Instagram of her fans posing with the statue and holding its breasts and butt.
A photo posted by Nicki Minaj (@nickiminaj) on Aug 9, 2015 at 4:28pm PDT
A photo posted by Nicki Minaj (@nickiminaj) on Aug 4, 2015 at 11:04am PDT
Despite Minaj's response of laughter to suggestive photos with her likeness, she has not commented on an image that seems to have attracted the biggest backlash: a man mounting the figure from behind and pulling its hair. Madame Tussauds, however, has decided to speak out.
"We have been made aware of the inappropriate photograph that was taken at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas, involving Nicki Minaj's new wax figure. Madame Tussauds attractions are interactive, immersive experiences, and our visitors are generally respectful towards the wax figures. It is unfortunate that this visitor decided to behave so inappropriately and we apologize for any offense this has caused. We do have staff monitoring guest behavior in the attraction and do our utmost to ensure our wax figures are treated respectfully, but on this occasion clearly one of our hosts was not present.
We are taking immediate steps to ensure more staff are present in this area and that the set around this particular figure is redesigned so that a picture like this cannot be taken again."
Just last week, Azealia Banks criticized Madame Tussauds' choice of pose for the figure. She shared her thoughts via Twitter, writing, "As much as that woman has accomplished, they had to put her on all fours... Why not standing up with a mic in her hand ???"
Minaj is the first female rapper ever to have a wax figure at Madame Tussauds.
Upon its release, the "Anaconda" video broke the VEVO record for the most-watched clip in 24 hours. In its first day, the video was watched 19.6 million times.
This past weekend, Minaj also racked up quite a few views on a video she shared via Instagram. In the brief clip, the platinum-selling artist twerked in a thong as her rapper boyfriend Meek Mill lay in the background. Following a slew of mixed comments from fans, Minaj ultimately decided to remove the racy video.
