Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, the main characters from Breaking bad, get their own statue in Albuquerque, where the series is set. A bad idea according to some.
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At the Albuquerque Convention Center in the American state of New Mexico, visitors will soon be able to take selfies with a bronze Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. The statues of the two main characters from Breaking bad are donated by Sony Pictures Television, TV studio behind the series, and Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking bad† Gilligan wants to stimulate tourism in the area around Albuquerque, the city where the series was filmed. “For 15 years, resulting in two series and a movie, Albuquerque has been great for us,” Gilligan said in a press release. “I want to give something back.” He hopes the statues will “attract buses full of tourists.”
Breaking bad follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a cancer chemistry teacher who deals meth with his former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Breaking bad ran from 2008 to 2013 and was awarded ten Emmys. Then followed the Netflix movie The wayin which Pinkman was central, and Better call Saula spin-off series about White and Pinkman’s seedy lawyer.
The fact that two fictional drug dealers are given a statue in a city ravaged by drug crime has provoked angry reactions on Twitter. “They are erecting statues for characters who are meth dealers, junkies and murderers in a city notorious for its meth addictions and drug problems. What the fuck is this,” said one Twitter user.
Out a recent report The New Mexico Department of Health found that nearly three times as many people in the U.S. state died from a meth overdose in 2020 than in 2015. Over the past 30 years, some 43,000 New Mexico residents have died from alcohol or drug overdoses .
Either way, the statues created by sculptor Trevor Grove will be unveiled on July 29. In addition to the mayor of Albuquerque, Gilligan and actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will attend the ceremony. “We’re glad the statues are inside, protecting our heads from the criticism of pigeons,” Cranston and Paul said jokingly in a joint press release.
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