A wax figure of former President Trump has been removed from a museum after visitors kept punching it in the face.
The owner of Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks in San Antonio, Texas, has removed the statue for repair.
“The museum’s owner says damage to wax figures, especially politicians can be a problem,” FOX 5 -NY reported, citing Ripley Entertainment, the owner of the museum, as saying: “When a wax figure has been damaged, we will remove the figure from public display and send it to our talented team of artists for repair.”
The San Antonio Express-News reported that the Trump figure had been repeatedly punched in the face. Figures of former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the San Antonio museum have also been damaged, including multiple times when the ears were ripped off Obama’s replica, Clay Stewart, regional manager for Ripley, told the Express-News.
“We’ve always had trouble with the presidential section because no matter what president it was — Bush, Obama or Trump — they’ve all had people beat them,” he said, noting that Bush’s figure’s nose was punched in. “People are just aggressive about their political party,” Stewart said.
A spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment told People magazine it’s not unusual for the company’s wax figures to be damaged.
In a statement to the magazine, spokeswoman Suzanne Smagala-Potts said the company “has a long history of creating wax figures of the US President to display at our Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditoriums. Our wax figures will need repairing from time to time, ranging from Hollywood celebrities to political figures.”
“Ripley’s only showcases the highest quality of exhibits and wax figures,” her statement continued. “When a wax figure has been damaged, we will remove the figure from public display and send it to our talented team of artists for repair.”
“We like to be an interactive museum where people can come, and pose and take selfies,” she told People. “A lot of times, a figures will need repair and it’s not even intentional — people just want to touch the face of Miley Cyrus or Lady Gaga or put their arm around it, and maybe they knock it down by accident.”
“Asked if the damage to the Trump figure occurred because of repeated punches to the face, she says, ‘Have some people done that? Yes. But it’s also been damaged accidentally, as well.'”
Shortly after the 2016 election, Ripley announced it would create three Trump figures.
“They’re huuuuuge, they’re big league and they’ve been hand- crafted by the F/X team at Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” the company said in a press release. “Just as in real life, the wax Trump is polling at about 50% – loved by some Ripley’s visitors, loathed by others.”
“Ripley’s F/X team started creating the first Trump figure about four months ago. Each is sculpted by hand by a team of artists, using photographs to create the likeness. Each figure takes about six weeks to complete,” the release said.