The new Dwyane Wade statue looks like everyone else but Dwyane Wade

An unveiling ceremony for a new statue honoring retired Miami Heat basketball player Dwyane Wade went viral over the weekend. The bronze statue erected outside the Kaseya Center on Biscayne Boulevard, where the team plays its home games, caused a stir online because it viewed Wade's appearance as a mere suggestion. Some critics called the work “Wayne Dade” and “Dwyane Wade of Temu”. “, among other selection observations.

On the other hand, many claimed that the statue did have an objective similarity… to Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus in The Matrix (1999) and Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane Frasier (1993–2004).

The statue was a collaboration between Omri Amrany and Oscar León of Studio Rotblatt Amrany, an Illinois-based sculpture studio with countless bronze tributes to historical and cultural icons from sports, politics and more.

Wade himself took the unveiling in stride, either out of genuine kindness or sheer stoicism, calling the sculpture “beautiful” and “one of the finest statues ever created.” However, some fans have latched on to one particular snippet in which Wade turns back to the statue and rhetorically muses, “Who is this guy?” as he talked about how crazy it was to have his career memorialized in this way .

Some other hyper-specific comparisons have also been thrown into the ring:

Some compared Amrany and León's recent appearance to the Cristiano Ronaldo bust fiasco of 2017, when the international soccer star was depicted with a bizarre grin, asymmetrical eyes and an awkward stiffness made more disturbing by the elongated tree trunk of a neck.

For additional context, the specific pose referenced by the Wade statue immortalizes the MVP's reaction to the game-winning shot during a game against the Chicago Bulls on March 9, 2009, when he jumped onto the scorer's table and shouted, “This is it.” my house.” !” to the Miami crowd in the stands after the deal was sealed. Wade considered this a career-defining moment and noted that he was glad it was immortalized at the unveiling ceremony.

Some have taken the liberty of Photoshopping the statue's face into photos that capture Wade's important moments on and off the field:

And while there's a lot to laugh about, we're reminded that this is just the beginning of our future in a world where funding arts and culture comes first – particularly in Florida…