Dwyane Wade stays remarkably cool and circumspect in talking about the response his Miami Heat statue has generated. The studio that made the statue also made a statement.
Yeah, D-Wade saw the comments.
"Yeah, I have an iPhone," Dwyane Wade told the media after the Miami Heat organization unveiled his statue outside Kaseya Center. "I care, but I don't."
He became the first player in team history to receive this honor.
But when the statue was unveiled, people were like, "Who is this guy???"
The memes, of course, erupted.
The looks exchanged here said a lot.
But later, D-Wade got pretty chill. He actually wants you to go down and see it, and send some memes while you're at it.
"The social media world is about opinions. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone, use y'all opinions. Please talk more about us. Talk more about a statue, come on down to see it, take some photos, send some memes. We don't care," he told the media.
Yes, he knows the statue also looks a lot like actor Laurence Fishburne.
"I'm in on the joke, guys. I laugh all the time. Like, I'm cool. I saw some memes today that I was like, 'Yeah, it kind of got a little Laurence Fishburne lower jaw line,'" Wade noted.
The statue, cast in bronze, immortalized the moment at the end of a double overtime against the Chicago Bulls in March 2009.
It was created by the Rotblatt Amrany Studio, which has done plenty of athlete statues in the past including the "Michael Jordan Spirit" in Chicago, the Kobe Bryant "Black Mamba" statue, as well as the "Kobe and Gianna Bryant Memorial" in Los Angeles.
They did the Elgin Baylor and Jerry West ones too.
Wade said he spent a lot of time over the past year with Rotblatt Amrany Studio sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar León, and offered a circumspect view of the situation.
"What we wanted to do was capture a moment that represented the organization, represented myself and represented the city. We felt like we captured that moment in artistic form, in an artistic way. If I wanted it to look like me, I would just stand outside the arena, you'all would take photos. It don't need to look like me," he said.
"It's an artistic version of a moment that happened that we're trying to cement."
So yes. Wade saw that face--literally face-to-face--before it was presented to the world.
"Art is intended to invite conversation and stir emotion, and we understand that interpretation is a deeply personal experience. We hope that fans can see the piece as a tribute that reflects Dwyane's spirit and legacy," Rotblatt Amrany Studio explained.
So Wade respects what the sculptors can do, and what they intended with his bronze face.
"Every time they create something, someone has to come out and say something about their creation. They cannot do what they do," Wade said. "I know what that feels like because I'm an athlete, a former athlete. People talked about me a lot, but they couldn't do what I do. And so, you learn how to just laugh, look at it, learn from it, move on, whatever."
"So, we good. We good."