On Sunday, a statue honoring Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah was >revealed as part of Egypt's annual >World Youth Forum in Sharm Al Sheikh.
Designed by Egyptian sculptor Mai Abdallah, the effigy hasn't been well received ... to say the least.
The sculpture left many people confused and unimpressed. Just hours after it was unveiled, images of the figure started circulating online and have since been heavily criticized by millions who felt it looked absolutely nothing like the football star.
The statue sparked a hilarious meltdown online
Trolls were quite inspired
"Mohamad Salah's statue in the youth forum."
Memes had to be made
Because the sculpture looks nothing like Salah
"This looks like anything, but not Salah."
People thought the statue resembled troll dolls
Comparisons to Marv from "Home Alone" were brought forth
Maybe more like Todd Flanders?
The options were endless
"Mohamad Salah when he saw his statue"
A failed attempt at recreating this moment
Unfortunately, no one can unsee this
The Egyptian trolling game was on
"Here you have the statue of an alien thinking of escaping this entire planet."
"We're so sorry Salah"
Amid the backlash, some defended the sculptor behind the statue
"This is a post that Mai, the woman who created the Mohamed Salah sculpture, uploaded on Facebook. I hope you read her words and I honestly wish that people will learn how to respectfully criticize something they dislike without hurting or destroying a person's spirit."
Abdallah has since defended her sculpture
In a statement posted on her Facebook account, Abdallah explained that she wasn't 100 percent happy with the final version of her work.
"I originally wanted the statue to look different than the final product, but the forum's organizers told me it needed to be bronze and so we had to paint over it. This process takes a long time and lots of effort and transformed the original gypsum figure into bronze," she wrote.
"Just one day before I had to hand my work over, I discovered that it turned out like this after painting! What was I supposed to do? I couldn't not submit my work because it was funded by the Youth Forum and was part of their display. If it were my own exhibition, I wouldn't have displayed any work that I am not fully happy with," she added.
In her post, Abdallah also hit back at those harshly criticizing her work, saying that ridiculing someone's efforts shouldn't be acceptable.
Not the first time a celebrity statue causes a stir in Egypt
Last year, a sculpture of Marilyn Monroe created by Egyptian sculptor and university professor Ehab Al Asiouty sparked a >meltdown of the sorts after a photo of it went viral online.
Many harshly criticized the figure while others ridiculed and humorously reacted to it.
Following the intense social media backlash his work received, Al Asiouty spoke to Al Ahram Online, explaining that most people who shared the photo on social media aren't sculptors and therefore lack the ability to critique his work.