Call me a Madame Tussauds apologist, but Zendaya's new wax figure looks fine. Really.
The internet is up in arms about the Euphoria star's inanimate doppelgänger, unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London earlier this week. Critics have lobbed a wide range of insults at the work, complaining about its resemblance to everything from a Karen to a flight attendant.
Honestly, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. We all know Zendaya is otherworldly beautiful — did anyone really expect an institution notorious for doing celebrities dirty (cough cough, Rihanna's terrifying, Christmas-themed wax figure) to deliver perfection?
In fact, Zendaya's figure is a veritable Michelangelo compared to some of Madame Tussaud's greatest hits.
Remember the museum's pale, unwieldy take on Beyoncé, a monstrosity that looked more like a middle schooler dancing at prom than one of the most powerful women alive?
How about wax Robert Pattinson, done up with bad lip filler and bronzer?
And we can't forget Tussaud's homage to Cristiano Ronaldo, passably handsome but dressed in the wrong team uniform.
The latest Zendaya candle joins several earlier wax iterations of the star, all of which are less than ideal. Clearly, the artists at Madame Tussauds are learning, and we can't fault them for that.
For days now, heated discussion of Zendaya's wax figure has been trending on Google and Twitter, a testament to power of both her and Ms. Tussaud.
But to all the detractors out there, I say: they don't build statues — or rather, wax figures — of critics!
