Wax museum crowd had message for ‘45’
When he was in office, Donald Trump — 45th president often complained that he felt battered and under assault, but that didn’t compare with the physical beating a wax statue of the former president recently endured at a Texas attraction.
The figure of Trump at Louis Tussaud’s Palace of Wax in San Antonio had been punched and scratched so much lately that it was removed from display for repairs this past week.
The assault was not the first time a wax likeness of a president or celebrity had been marred, highlighting a history of such cases extending back decades.
Wax statues of politicians, including former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, have been temporarily removed from display after being damaged or vandalized, said Suzanne Smagalapotts, a spokesperson for Ripley Entertainment, the company that operates the San Antonio location and a number of other wax and oddity attractions across the country.
“Sometimes it’s intentional; sometimes it’s not,” Smagala-potts said. “Oftentimes, some people may feel more strongly toward a political figure than a celebrity.”
A wax figure of Adolf Hitler was beheaded in 2008 by a protester at a Madame Tussauds museum in Berlin. After it was repaired, the figure was returned to the museum behind glass windows and with two guards to protect it.
A wax statue of rapper Sean Combs, who is known as Diddy, was similarly disfigured in 2019 at Madame Tussauds in New York City after someone pushed the figure, severing its head, The Associated Press reported. Madame Tussauds and Louis Tussaud’s share similar names but are run by different companies.
Smagala-potts said she did not know if the San Antonio site would post guards near Trump’s wax figure after it is repaired.
Assaults on the wax figure of Trump became more frequent around last year’s election. Even after the statue was moved to the lobby — where attendants could see it — the jabs and scratches did not stop, according to the San Antonio Express-news, which reported on the removal of the figure.