Dwyane Wade's Heat statue rips a hole in the meme 'Matrix': Comparisons with cyberpunk franchise character blow up
Former Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade's statue was unveiled outside the team's arena on Sunday. Netizens were not big fans of the installation.
NBA champion Dwyane Wade has finally earned his due respect. Or has he?
Following up on Miami Heat President Pat Riley's tribute plans for the former Heat star, the team finally unveiled his statue on Sunday, October 27. A wall behind the three-time NBA champion’s statue also boasted his achievements throughout his professional basketball career until his retirement in 2019.
However, the first life-like manifestation of a Heat player outside the team's arena, Kaseya Centre in Miami, was not without its gags. What was originally meant to embody a respectful gesture soon triggered a meme fest on social media, as bewildered fans failed to trace visual similarities between Wade and his statue. With photos of the statue dedicated to the greatest player in Miami Heat history doing rounds on X, formerly Twitter, netizens lost all cool and calm and erupted into a hilarious frenzy.
Fans roast Dwyane Wade's unrecognisable Miami Heat statue
Many failed to recognise the team’s all-time leading scorer and saw it as the perfect opportunity to blow up the social networking site with a memes trail. “Man who the hell is this??? The Miami Heat did Dwyane Wade filthy with this statue lmao,” the user wrote on X.
Several others zoomed in on the “nasty work,” likening the statue’s aura to Laurence Fishburne’s Matrix character, Morpheus. Several other parallels emerged online, further straying away from the vision that the statue actually (or at least should) take after Wade. Another user chimed in, “Got him looking like a mix between Michael Chiklis, Roger Aaron Brown Seal and the Walking Dead.”
A third said, “I’m trying so hard to see Wade in this statue.” Meanwhile, a fourth went on to refer to the 42-year-old retired basketball point guard’s initial switch from his early 2000s Heat roots to a brief stint with his hometown team, Chicago Bulls, in 2016. He later jumped ship to the Cleveland Cavaliers before finally returning to the Heat. “When Pat Riley won’t give you max money so you have to sign with the Bulls,” again alluding to the incongruous facial expression on the NBA star’s statue. Yet another speechless netizen questioned, “Is this a prank? Please say they're joking and they'll reveal the real statue soon....”
Dwyane Wade's reaction to his statue
Fans weren’t alone in roasting the installation, which looked nothing like the beloved former guard. Wade articulated his excitement ahead of the statue’s establishment in Miami. “I’ve been trying to think about it ever since I heard that I would have a statue and I don’t think any answer I come up with is going to reflect how I will feel,” he told the Miami Herald. “I don’t even know if it’s going to hit me right away.”
However, he did a U-turn after he saw the final result. Even before fans could jump into the meme fest, he seemingly participated in some self-deprecatory humour and roasted the statue’s unrecognisable appearance. Be it his disbelief powered by excitement about the milestone or his actually failing to see himself in the installation, Wade initially reacted with a simple, “Who is that guy?”
An NBA fan asked for a “refund” on the statue. Another one quipped, “That’s Wayne Dade.”
On the more sentimental side of the installation, Wade said on Sunday during the statue reveal, “This is so crazy. I wanted to feel this. Life goes by so fast and it’s very rare that we get to feel things, because we’re always off to the next thing. … I wanted to feel this, man. I wanted to look at it.”
In addition to the Sunday event, the Miami Heat will honour the NBA great with an in-game ceremony while hosting the Detroit Pistons on Monday, October 28.