Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs had some strong words for the sketch artist who drew him during his months-long sex trafficking trial.
The 55-year-old music mogul was depicted in court sketches visibly panicking when jurors announced earlier this week that they had reached a verdict on four of the five charges against him.
Diddy was later seen collapsing in his chair when jurors declared that he was not guilty of racketeering conspiracy – the top charge against him – and sex trafficking. He was, however, found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
The images – some of which were commissioned by Jane Rosenberg – provided rare glimpses into the rapper’s mood and demeanor during the high-profile proceedings.
But Combs was not always satisfied with the way Rosenberg was portraying him, even criticizing her work during a break in proceedings last month.
She recounted to PEOPLE how the I’ll Be Missing You singer returned to the Manhattan federal courtroom and mouthed something at her.
At first, Rosenberg said she could not make out what Combs was trying to tell her. But when he repeated himself, she could hear that he wanted her to make him look ‘softer’ as he pointed to his mouth.
‘And he said, “You made me look like a koala bear,”‘ the artist said.
Sketch artist Jane Rosenberg recounted how Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs had a problem with her depiction of him during his sex trafficking trial
Combs reportedly told her last month that she was making him ‘look like a koala bear’
She apparently took the criticism in stride, noting that later that same day, she found herself in the elevator with Combs’ mother, Janice Combs, along with his sons.
‘In the elevator, they were saying “Thank you for being such an unbiased artist,”‘ Rosenberg said. ‘And I told them, “Today, Diddy said I made him look like a koala bear.” And they all started chuckling.’
In her remarks to PEOPLE, Rosenberg admitted it took her some time to figure out how to properly draw the hip hop artist.
‘He was not a simple likeness to do,’ she said, adding that she had to learn how to draw his jaw.
‘He’s got an unusual look. And he doesn’t look anything like he used to.’
Drawing celebrities at their high-profile criminal trials is a difficult task in general, Rosenberg said, as they are widely known and people have a perception of how they are supposed to look.
At times, even the celebrity has comments, like Diddy did.
‘[Rudy] Giuliani told me I made him look like a dog, [Harvey] Weinstein told me to give him more hair, John Gotti asked me to trim down his chin,’ said Rosenberg, who has been working as a professional sketch artist for 45 years and wrote a memoir entitled. ‘Drawn Testimony: My Four Decades as a Courtroom Sketch Artist.’
The sketches commissioned by Rosenberg provided rare glimpses into the rapper’s mood and demeanor during the high-profile proceedings
‘And [President Donald] Trump once stood over one of my sketches and said, “I need to lose some weight,”‘ she recounted.
The worst criticism Rosenberg ever faced came in 2015, she said, when she drew former Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady during an NFL hearing on the ‘Deflategate’ scandal – which claimed the team illegally deflated footballs in their 2014 AFC Championship victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Rosenberg published a memoir of her court sketches last year
She said she did not know who the star quarterback was when she sketched him. But when she returned home from work, she said she found she had received hundreds of emails.
Fans of Brady panned her for making the handsome quarterback look like he was ‘put in one of those machines that crushes cars,’ while those who disliked him celebrated her depiction of him.
‘I didn’t know what memes were,’ Rosenberg said. ‘But I certainly learned the what memes were’ as netizens put the sketch in place of ET on the poster for the classic movie, or the face in The Scream, by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.
In the end, Rosenberg was forced to apologize as she had ‘nightmares’ about her viral fame.
‘I didn’t make Tom Brady look as handsome as he is,’ she told WBZ Boston. ‘I apologize to Tom Brady. And all the NFL fans.’
She added: ‘He’s a very handsome guy. It’s very hard in a very short time to get somebody so good- looking to look as good as they look [in person].’
Fortunately, her second effort at drawing the star football player passed without so much attention.