November has been a huge month for Idris Elba. He was named the sexiest man alive. He opened a fancy tropical bar so he always has a place to DJ. And for a short time, he had a doll depicting his likeness. Or at least the likeness of somebody famous who was supposed to be him.
Earlier today, British doll company Emperis released images of an Idris Elba doll to commemorate his title of sexiest man alive. The doll sported jeans, a vest and a sports coat slung over its shoulder. It also didn’t really look like Idris Elba at all. The internet quickly tore the image to shreds, evoking great Internet moments like the times we all first saw statues of Lucille Ball and Cristano Ronaldo.
Here is a collection of tweets with people pointing out other celebrities that look more like the doll than Elba.
https://twitter.com/WillPresti/status/1062464095566340098
https://twitter.com/Ade_J_Jones/status/1062511384091602945
https://twitter.com/MCBAIN403/status/1062454693408821248
https://twitter.com/courtdanee2/status/1062201566260850689
Fans mock Idris Elba doll for looking nothing like Hollywood star.
For starters it looks like Montell Williams. https://t.co/NgGu3RgFvR
— Andrew R (@kidcue) November 13, 2018
It appears Emperis is trying to pretend this never happened. They deleted their original post and possibly an Instagram account. You can still see the original image on their site under the news section.
When the doll was available, it was priced at £850 according to The Independent. That’s just over $1,100 American dollars for a bald Idris Elba doll. Looking back through Google, it appears that the only time Idris Elba was bald – or very nearly bald – was during Obsessed, the 2009 film where someone was presumably obsessed with a human version of a bald Idris Elba doll. According to both critics and people who saw Obsessed, it was one of the worst things Elba has ever done. As long as he had nothing to do with this doll.