Just days after the award-winning rapper riky Rick passed away, this guy decided to make a wax statue of the late award-winning star Ricky Rick honoring him. He then decided to post the picture of the statue on his social media page. Which according to my own opinion is a great gesture from him.

He then invited people on social media to come and view the statue for free.

But according to reports, it has been reported that Ricky Rick’s family was not pleased and reprimanded the Durban sculpture, Lungelo Gumede.

It has been revealed that the family has told him to stop showing the statue in public, especially on social media as it is still too soon for them.

Lungelo Gumede didn’t understand why he was instructed to not show his work as an artist on social media, especially that of a public figure like Ricky Rick.

Ricky Rick1

He further said that as much as I respect the family and remove the photo from social media, he feels that the award-winning rapper’s family shouldn’t be sensitive about the statue as their son was a public figure.

This is what he had to say, “They allowed Big Zulu to record a tribute song for him. They also allowed Rasta to draw him at his funeral. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to do my work on him as an artist? I fail to understand. But maybe they felt the wax statue was real when they saw it on social media. When one looks at the wax statue, it’s like they are looking at the real him. It feels like he is still alive,” said Lungelo.

According to the Daily Sun newspaper, when they visited the Bat Centre in Durban where the statue was displayed, the Daily Sun team found it covered in brown paper.

He revealed that he covered the stage with the brown paper after the family called him and told him not to show the statue, but fans were already flocking and asking to take photos with the statue. Lungelo couldn’t allow them to essay respect the family.

 

 
This is what he further said about the statue, “When I deleted the photos, over 800 people had already shared them. When they called me, hundreds of fans had already taken photos with the statue. It’s beyond their control now. But the question is, what about my artistic work? What about the time that I’ve put into this project? Some things are not fair,” said Lungelo.

According to reports, a local publication called riky Rick’s brother identified himself as Themba.

This is what the alleged brother of Ricky Rick said, “We’re still mourning. So this thing is too soon for us.”

When the brother was asked about Lungelo’s concern that they allowed Big Zulu to record attribute song, and Rasta to draw a portrait, this is what Themba had to say, “I wish not to comment further. We are mourning.”

He is known for making wax portraits of Media personalities in the likes of Nelson Mandela, DJ black Coffee, his late brother-in-law Sifiso Ncwane and many more as you can see in his picture.

Do you think the family should make an issue of the portrait, in my own opinion I don’t think so?