Abstract

The image repair rhetoric of Jane Rosenberg, courtroom sketch artist for the Tom Brady “Deflategate” case, expands our understanding of image repair rhetoric at the intersection of sport, legal, and popular communication. This analysis draws on the comprehensive work of Benoit’s typology of image repair. We found that Rosenberg used a number of image repair strategies, including evading responsibility, reducing offensiveness, mortification, and corrective action. Some strategies seemed to function as preemptive image prepare. Additional media coverage adapted much of her rhetoric into conventional, familiar sport narratives, including the “comeback” and/or “redemption” story. We discuss how these strategies fit—or did not—conventional strategies of image repair.