From 2021 to March 2023, a judge in New Jersey uploaded approximately 40 public videos of himself lip-syncing lyrics from mainstream rap songs on TikTok under an alias.
Now, he’s facing the consequences: On Monday, the court system said it had filed a complaint against Superior Court judge Gary N. Wilcox, who will undergo a hearing that could result in a reprimand or dismissal, The New York Times reported.
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Some of Wilcox’s TikTok videos feature explicit references to violence, sex and misogyny, with “profanity” and “racist terms” appearing in several recorded in the judge’s court chambers, per the state’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct. Wilcox also donned his judicial robes in certain videos.
Fifty-eight-year-old Wilcox, who used the alias “Sal Tortorella” to post his videos on TikTok, presides over criminal cases in Bergen County, New Jersey. A Harvard Law School graduate, he was admitted to the state’s bar more than 30 years ago and has been a Superior Court Judge since 2011, per the NYT.
TikTok has more than 40,000 “trust and safety professionals” who develop and enforce policies regarding explicit content, especially for its users between ages 13-17, per the platform — using AI to bolster its efforts.
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The Wilcox case will likely hinge on free speech arguments and was filed one day after the New Jersey court ruled that police must prove more than basic probable cause to continuously monitor Facebook to investigate crimes, a method likened to tapping someone’s phone, according to the NYT.