The family of the late award-winning rapper Riky Rick is reportedly breathing fire after Sculptor Dr. Lungelo Gumede made a wax statue in his honour and shared it on social media.
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Read More: Fans Enraged By Rasta's Riky Rick Painting
According to Daily Sun, Riky's family is not impressed and they has ordered him to remove the statue.
"We're still mourning. So this is too soon for us," the publication quoted Riky's alleged brother Themba.
Lungelo on the other hand told the publication that he does not understand why the family is denying him the honour to pay respect to the late rapper.
"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."
He also shared that there is nothing he can do at this point to get rid of the pictures on social media as they have already been widely shared.
"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. ut the question is, what about y artistic work? What about my time that I've put into this project? Some things are not fair," Lungelo told the publication.
Dr. Gumede has previously honoured many public figures with his work.
Hornaring Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi with a Wax Statue during his 90th Birthday Celebration... pic.twitter.com/yzkL5rriy2
— Dr Lungelo Gumede (Sculptor) (@LungeloGumedeSA) May 21, 2021
The hip-hop star had previously opened up about his battle to LAB LIVE. He said his struggle started after he lost his father. “I lost my father at a time when I needed the help. I lost him at a time when I needed that voice. A lot of people don’t understand that you can never replace the voice of a father. It wasn’t like he just died, it was like 18 years, living with your dad for a year, and then going back to your mom. I love being with my mom but living with him for a year ... A child is never meant to live without his parents.”
“When he passed away, I was so angry, so upset. I was so upset, like ‘why my life? Why does my life have to turn to s**t when all the kids that I went to school with had both parents coming to see them at football games, coming to watch them at basketball games, bringing them picnic sacks? I didn’t get that and I didn’t get to see you after. I was so angry, so angry, super angry.”
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Main Image Cred: ANMG