Why was Sinead O’Connor’s wax figure pulled from a museum?

On July 25, 2024, the National Wax Museum Plus in Dublin, Ireland, launched a wax figure to honor Irish singer/songwriter Sinead O’Connor in time for her first death anniversary. O’Connor was discovered unresponsive in her London home on July 26, 2023, and her cause of death was recently revealed as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma. She was 56 years old.

The wax figure would have been an amazing tribute to the legendary singer, but it turned out to be a disappointment to her fans and her family members, particularly to her brother, John O’Connor.

The wax figure looked like a store mannequin

According to John, he wasn’t aware that this wax figure would be unveiled in the week of her sister’s death anniversary. He only saw it while browsing online and said “it looked something between a mannequin and something out of the Thunderbirds,” referring to the 1960s British science fiction TV series that featured electronic puppets. He said the wax figure looked “hideous” and wasn’t representative of his sister. It was even more upsetting that he had to talk about it during her death anniversary, he stated in an interview with RTE 1 Radio’s Liveline, an Irish radio show.

John said he felt it was his responsibility to raise the issue with the museum. Paddy Dunning, the museum’s director, who was friends with O’Connor, said the singer’s wax figure was brought to the museum the night before it was launched, and he felt it didn’t look right. However, they still went on with the launch the following day, as he said many members of the press were attending to document the event. Dunning said the artist, PJ Heraghty, had created amazing wax figures in previous years but has been dealing with health issues.

John was extremely upset about the situation and said the wax figure shouldn’t have been unveiled without a quality check. O’Connor’s fans also took to social media to express their displeasure.

The museum’s statement

Heraghty, who is 70 years old, said that his initial reaction to being offered to create a wax figure of Sinead was to refuse the job.  He knew that it was a daunting task, but he still agreed to take it on. “I just knew it was going to be problematic to capture somebody as beautiful as Sinead O’Connor,” he said. Furthermore, he felt he didn’t have enough time, as he was given the deadline of the singer’s first death anniversary, and he had only started working on it at the beginning of 2024. Heraghty admits that it wasn’t his best job, and he didn’t have good reference photos to recreate her features.

After the backlash, Dunning made the decision to pull the wax figure from the museum. He said it would be redone and they’ll do a better job of capturing the singer’s features. “We have listened closely to the reactions and agree that the figure does not fully capture Sinead’s unique presence and essence as we intended,” the statement partly read.