Judge, aka 'Sal Tortorella' on TikTok, gets unpaid suspension for lip-syncing videos
A judge in Bergen County, New Jersey, in initially thought that posting videos of himself lip-syncing songs on TikTok “seemed like silly, harmless and innocent fun.” (Image from Shutterstock)
A judge in Bergen County, New Jersey, in initially thought that posting videos of himself lip-syncing songs on TikTok “seemed like silly, harmless and innocent fun.”
Judge Gary N. Wilcox of Bergen County, New Jersey, opened a TikTok account using the alias “Sal Tortorella” during the COVID-19 shutdown. His understanding was that he could replay song segments that were lip-synced and posted by others and then lip-sync them in his videos.
Wilcox explained his thinking in his August 2023 answer to an ethics complaint that took issue with the lyrics that he lip-synced and some of the locations that were backdrop—his chambers, the courthouse and his bed. His attire included his judicial robes and a Beavis and Butt-Head T-shirt. He was only partly dressed in the bedroom video.
Now, Wilcox has consented to discipline and stipulated that he violated ethics rules requiring judges to observe high standards of integrity, to avoid the appearance of impropriety, and to conduct extrajudicial activities in a way that does not demean the judicial office.
In an Oct. 7 order, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered a three-month unpaid suspension that was set to begin Oct. 8.
The Legal Profession Blog noted the order and allegations in the ethics complaint. Law360 and Bloomberg Law are among the publications with coverage.
The June 30, 2023, ethics complaint had alleged that the lyrics that Wilcox lip-synced included references “to violence, sex and misogyny.”
In one video, Wilcox recorded himself walking in the courthouse while “Get Down” by rapper Nas played in the background. According to the ethics complaint, the song “contains explicit lyrics concerning a criminal case and a courtroom shooting, as well as derogatory and discriminatory terms, drug and gang references, and the killing of a doctor in a hospital who treated another gang member.”
In another video, Wilcox lip-synced “Jump” by singer Rihanna, with these words: “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.”
Wilcox is a graduate of Harvard Law School, a former federal prosecutor and a former partner at McCarter & English, according to prior coverage.
A lawyer for Wilcox told Law360 that, “Now that the court has spoken, we defer to the court.”
