A judge in New Jersey will face a hearing after a secret TikTok account was discovered in which he allegedly lip-syncs to rap songs, sometimes while in his judicial robes.
The posts on the TikTok page — all under the pseudonym "Sal Tortorella" — allegedly show Superior Court judge Gary Wilcox mouthing along to pop music, some of which includes reference to violence, sex, and misogyny. The judge appears to have taken one video from his bed, according to the New York Times.
Approximately 40 videos have been recorded and made public on the TikTok account, with publishing dates between 2021 and March 2023.
A judicial review committee deemed 11 of the 40 to be inappropriate for a judge.
Seven of the videos appeared to have been recorded in the judges' court chambers. Those videos included lip-synching to songs that reportedly contained "profanity, graphic sexual references to female and male body parts, and/or racist terms," the committee found.
One of the videos, which has reportedly since been removed from TikTok, showed the judge, wearing a "Beavis and Butthead" T-shirt walking through the courthouse to the song "Get Down" by Nas.
The complaint notes that the song includes lyrics describing a criminal case and a shooting inside a courtroom, as well as imagery of drugs, gang violence, and murder.
In another video shot inside his courtroom chambers, the judge appears to mouth the phrase "all my life, I've been waiting for somebody to whoop my ass".
Later in the same video he lip-syncs “I mean business! You think you can run up on me and whip my monkey ass? Come on. Come on.”
While many TikTok videos show users singing along or dancing to music, there are also numerous soundbite trends that gain virality on platform.
One of the videos listed in the complaint shows the judge lip-syncing to "Jump" by Rhianna.
"If you want it let's do it. Ride it, my pony. My saddle is waitin', come and jump on it. If you want it, let's do it," the judge lip-synched.
The court said on Monday that it had filed a complaint against Mr Wilcox. He will face a hearing that could result in disciplinary actions, up to and including dismissal from the bench.
The court complaint accuses Mr Wilcox of showing "poor judgement" by posting the TikTok videos, and further said the posts "demonstrated disrespect for the judiciary and an inability to conform to the high standards of conduct expected of judges".
Robert Hille, Mr Wilcox's attorney, said he believes the court will recognise the judge meant no harm in posting his videos.
“I don’t think that at the end of the day anybody is going to believe there was any desire to do any harm here,” Mr Hille told the Times. “Hindsight is 20-20.”
The Independent has reached out to the judge for comment.
