May Ricky Rick’s soul continue to rest in peace ever since he passed away two weeks back and was buried last week on Tuesday. Already many people were paying tribute and showcasing their love for the media personality with portraits and songs, but for this one statue maker, it looks like the family is not welcoming his gesture.
According to reports, it has been reported that the passing of the award-winning rapper is become a traumatic event in the country, from those close to him especially friends and his wife receiving backlash for not supporting him enough to his statue now ending up in pieces due to a misunderstanding.
A sculpturist by the name of Lungile Gumede created the sculpture in honor of the late musician Ricky Rick. The way the sculpture was so incredibly beautiful, many people started flocking to the Bat Centre in Durban to witness the artwork that Gumede has mastered.
Now the sculpture lies in pieces as the drama started when the family of the award-winning rapper objected to the statue and told Lungile not to show it because they are still in mourning. In respect of the family’s request, the sculpturist decided to cover the statue with brown paper and remove it from public view.
According to Lungile, on his Facebook post, he said that he had a telephonic conversation with the family and agreed that they will tell him when to put up the statue again.
But then a few days back Dr. Lungile due to public demand to view the statue and take pictures, decided to take off the cover from this life-sized wax figure of Ricky Rick’s statue. In doing so he allowed the public to view the statue for free. And this created a problem between him and the family.
According to the Daily Sun, it has been reported that back and forth messages between Ricky Rick’s brother and Lungile began between the two of them after he revealed the statue to the public for free, Themba the brother of Ricky Rick claim that the sculptures are gaining financially for the viewing even when he said it is accessible to all.
According to the Daily Sun newspaper, it has been reported that Lungile allegedly destroyed the statue following threats made by Ricky Rick’s family. The publication further mentioned that the sculpturist revealed that it cost him R60,000 to create the statue and it only took a few minutes for him to destroy it claiming that he couldn’t take it anymore.
According to my opinion, I don’t know why they will not allow him to express or showcase his talent by creating a statue of someone of his caliber “Ricky Rick” because another artist is doing so with songs as a tribute to the musician.