Bergen County Judge In 'Beavis' Shirt Suspended For 'Poor Judgment' Over TikToks

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A Bergen County-based Superior Court judge has been suspended for three months for posting TikTok videos in which he sang along with songs with alleged racist, misogynistic, and lewd lyrics — sometimes performing them in the courthouse, according to court documents filed this week.

Judge Gary N. Wilcox "brought disrepute to the Judiciary" by posting the videos between 2021 and 2023, according to a complaint.

The initial complaint, filed in June 2023, says, "Respondent recorded several TikTok videos in his chambers, including songs which contained profanity, graphic sexual references to female and male body parts, and/or racist terms."

The judge posted the videos using the pseudonym Sal Tortorella, the complaint says.

Violated Conduct Code

The complaint says that Wilcox violated various canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct, including Canon 1, Rule 1.1, which requires judges to observe high standards of conduct so that the integrity and independence of the Judiciary may be preserved."

Among other violations, "Respondent recorded a TikTok video of himself wearing a 'Beavis and Butt-Head' T-shirt while walking through the courthouse with Get Down by Nas playing in the background. 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."

Violations Noted In Document

The complaint notes that Wilcox posted a screenshot at one point celebrating that he had 100 followers. It says that the TikToks were available to the public.

"In 11 of the videos," the complaint says, "Respondent posted to TikTok, either the content - e.g., including references to violence, sex, and misogyny - location - i.e., in chambers, in the courthouse, and in a bed - or Respondent's physical appearance - e.g., wearing his judicial robes and/or partially dressed while lying in bed - were inappropriate and brought disrepute to the Judiciary."

The complaint notes, "In one such video recorded in chambers, Respondent, wearing a T-shirt with his face close to the camera, lip-syncs the following lyrics from Jump ... '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. ' In a second video, Respondent, while in chambers with law books visible behind him and wearing a suit and tie, lip-syncs the following: 'All my life, I've been waiting for somebody to whoop my ass. I mean business! You think youcan run up on me and whip my monkey ass? Come on. Come on!' "

When the complaint was made public in summer 2023, the judge's attorney responded that the judge began seeing TikTok as a way to have harmless fun during the pandemic, and didn't mean anything by the lyrics, according to a report in the Globe.

The judge, a Harvard Law School graduate, also said he did not intend the videos to be public, and had an "unblemished" record, according to the report. The judge has expressed remorse.

The suspension will run from Oct. 8 through Jan. 8, 2025, the order says.