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The small town of Brownsville, Tennessee, paid tribute to its hometown hero, Tina Turner, on Sept. 27 by unveiling a 10-foot statue of the rock-and-roll legend. According to The Associated Press, the statue is located close to Nutbush, Tennessee, where Turner went to school as a child.
The statue was supported by around 50 donors, including Ford Motor Co., which donated $150,000. However, it has not been received well by fans, who have condemned its appearance on social media since its unveiling, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Here’s more on the statue and the backlash it’s getting from Turner’s fans.
The statue features Turner with big hair in a short skirt, microphone in hand
The statue, which was designed by sculptor Fred Ajanogha, features Turner with a big hairdo and wearing a short skirt, microphone in hand. Ajanogha said he wanted to celebrate Turner’s signature movement while on stage, capturing how she held the microphone with her index finger extended and how she styled her hair, which he described as the “mane of a lion,” The Associated Press reported.
The statue is located next to a museum celebrating Turner’s legacy at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville. The museum opened in 2014 inside the renovated Flagg Grove School, where Turner attended classes when the institution was located in Nutbush, according to The Associated Press. (After the school closed in the ’60s, it was used as a barn before the building was moved by a tractor-trailer to Brownsville.)
Fans found the statue’s features offensive
Fans took issue with the statue, specifically its voluminous hair and features, which many found offensive.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, one user argued that the statue is racist.
“We need to address why so many statues of Black people are poorly made and fail to resemble the individuals they’re meant to honor,” they wrote in a tweet. “I rarely see this same issue when it comes to white people.”
Another compared it to Dwyane Wade’s statue, which was unveiled outside of the Kaseya Center in Miami in October 2024, Blavity previously reported.
