THE controversial wax statue of the late hip-hop star, Riky Rick, has been destroyed.
This after Durban-based sculptor, Lungelo Gumede, was allegedly threatened by Riky Rick’s brother, Themba, on Sunday, 6 March.
Lungelo made the statue to honour Riky Rick and invited people to view it for free.
But Riky Rick’s family was not pleased with this, saying the statue was made too soon while they were still mourning.
This forced Lungelo to wrap it in brown paper and stop people from viewing it.
However, fans flocked to the Bat Centre in Durban where the statue was displayed and Lungelo uncovered it, which angered Themba even more.
Daily Sun saw the text messages where Themba said Lungelo is directly profiting from the statue, although the viewing is free.
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He further said he hoped he didn’t have to take Lungelo to a place he doesn’t want to be.
Speaking to the People’s Paper, Lungelo said he felt at peace after he destroyed his artwork.
“It cost me about R60 000 to make this statue. I made it out of love for Riky Rick and art. I felt threatened and couldn’t take it anymore. So to stop the threats, I decided to destroy the statue. It took me about a week to make it and only a few minutes to destroy it,” said Lungelo.
He said he felt that Themba didn’t understand his job as an artist or his brother’s impact as a public figure.
Lungelo said he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to make a statue while Big Zulu was allowed to record a tribute song and Rasta The Artist was not reprimanded for drawing a Riky Rick portrait.
Responding to this in the text messages, Themba said: “Do not compare you making a statue of Riky to Big Zulu, someone whom he had worked with and had a personal relationship with outside of the industry.”
In the past, Lungelo has made wax statues of politicians, prominent church leaders, movie stars, soccer stars and various artists.
By the time of going to print, Themba had failed to answer our calls or respond to our texts.
