Madame Tussauds Accused Of ‘Whitewashing’ Beyoncé Wax Figure

Madame Tussauds New York was accused online of whitewashing their latest Beyoncé Knowles wax figure shortly after unveiling it on Wednesday. It is not the first time they have been accused of making the “Single Ladies” singer’s pigment lighter than it actually is.

The most recent figure – the one that is featured in the picture to the left – was unveiled both online and in person on Wednesday. Many people took to Twitter to point out the difference in skin tone between the real life singer and her wax counterpart.

“Theory: Beyoncé wax figure makers have never seen Beyoncé,” a user named Michelle Lee tweeted.

The museum defended its wax figure and its sculptors.

“Our talented team of sculptors takes every effort to ensure we accurately color match all of our wax figures to the celebrity being depicted,” Madame Tussauds said in a statement to BBC.

“Lighting within the attraction combined with flash photography may distort and misrepresent the color of our wax figures which is something our sculptors are unable to account for at the production stage.”

Twitter users have taken to pointing out celebrities that look more like the figure than Beyoncé, including Taylor Swift, Maria Carey, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

On the same day the new Beyoncé figure was unveiled, a wax figure of Keeping Up With The Kardashians star Kylie Jenner was made public as well. The figure appears to look nearly identical to the 19-year-old reality star.

Currently, there are no advertisements on the Madame Tussauds New York website for their latest Beyoncé figure. Although they tweeted about the figure on Wednesday, the tweet has since been deleted.

The mother of three has not commented on the controversy.