NEW YORK — (CNN) A courtroom sketch artist made famously handsome Tom Brady look bad, and now she’s offering the New England Patriots quarterback an apology.
“I apologize for not making him look pretty enough to the world,” artist Jane Rosenberg said. “Tom Brady is a very good-looking guy.”
Rosenberg’s drawing of Brady went viral amid a court hearing Wednesday over whether he will have to serve a four-game suspension after he was accused of orchestrating the deflation of game balls in January’s AFC Championship game, aka “Deflategate.”
While some football fans were watching intently to see whether their fantasy QB will have to sit out a crucial part of the season, others were simply marveling at the unique artwork coming out of the hearing.
The hand-drawn portraits portray Brady looking pensive and, some said, not like himself.
Quickly proliferating memes likened the sketch version of Brady to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Lord of the Rings” character Gollum.
“Tom Brady does not look like Gollum, courtroom sketch person,” said one Twitter user, underneath a side-by-side image of Gollum and the courtroom sketch of Brady.
Implying that the artistic rendering makes Brady look unwell, another meme Photoshops him into Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video as a dancing zombie.
“DeflateGate is turning into a real thriller,” Twitter user Pete Blackburn posted.
Brady also got the “E.T.” treatment, with his likeness peeking out from under a blanket as he rides in a bicycle basket.
Yet another rendering plays off the botched repair of the “Ecce Homo” fresco.
Another doctored photo features CNN anchor Don Lemon holding the image of Brady above a banner that reads: “Does this offend you?”
Twitter users are loving the creative manipulation of artist Jane Rosenberg’s quick sketches from the courtroom.
“That Brady courtroom sketch is why the Internet needed to be invented. Glorious,” tweeted Aaron Nagler.
Some Twitter users are coming to the artist’s defense, pointing out that Rosenberg is a well-respected courtroom artist who has worked high-profile trials like that of convicted Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
“For real tho Jane Rosenberg, the Brady sketch artist, is great at her job and was invaluable during the Marathon bombing trial,” wrote Eric Levenson.
Rosenberg, who has also sketched famous court cases involving Bernie Madoff, Sean Combs and Al Sharpton, said in her own defense that Brady was a small part of a large pastel composition, and accuracy is difficult in that situation.
“I try to capture somebody’s essence quickly, so it’s not going to be perfect,” she added.
In any case, this seems to be her most famous courtroom drawing yet.
In a tweet featuring Brady’s sketched face superimposed over Vincent Van Gogh’s in one of the artist’s self portraits, Jody Genessy summed it up well: “Thanks to Tom Brady, we’ve discovered the Van Gogh of courtroom sketch artists.”
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