After being accused on 37 felony counts of his alleged mishandling of secret data, former President Donald Trump appeared in federal court last Tuesday for his arraignment.
According to the Boston Globe, three sketch artists worked feverishly that day to create portraits of Trump, but the social media platform was not impressed by one artist’s depiction of the ex-president.
William J. Hennessy Jr., a 65-year-old Virginia man with 40 years of court drawing experience, has come under fire on Twitter from those who claim he inaccurately represented the former president as slimmer and younger than he is.
Twitter users with keen eyes alleged that Hennessy disguised Trump’s 77-year-old appearance to make him look more like his son Barron Trump. Another person said it wasn’t an awful similarity, but it reminded them of images of the former president from the 1970s.
In an interview with the Globe, Hennessey seemed unconcerned by the criticism, claiming it was “rare” to get any input.
He said he drew what he saw and said it was a stressful and long day.
In 2015, Jane Rosenberg was the target of internet harassment and abuse after it was claimed that her court sketch of NFL quarterback Tom Brady from the “Deflate-gate” trial resembled Lurch from the Addams Family.
She feigned an apology for not making him “good-looking.”
She explains that the artists do their best despite harsh deadlines, intense courtroom constraints, and zero tolerance for individual expression.
The third sketch artist was Elizabeth Williams, and she was not targeted on social media for “sketch disinformation.”
It seems odd that a portion of the public was mad that a courtroom sketch artist didn’t make the defendant look appropriately old, fat, or despicable. Would they like to cancel the artist for crimes against sensibilities?
