The New Jersey court system alleges a judge broke ethics rules when he, in a suit and tie, in his chambers with law books lining his shelves, stared into a camera and lip-synced the words: “All my life, I’ve been waiting for somebody to whoop my ass.”
That’s how an ethics complaint by the state Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct describes one of 11 TikTok videos by Bergen County Superior Court Judge Gary N. Wilcox that it says “were inappropriate and brought disrepute to the judiciary.”
Between April 2021 and March of this year, Wilcox posted 40 public videos to TikTok under the alias “Sal Tortorella,” according to the complaint, filed Monday. The complaint takes issue with 11 videos it says were inappropriate, either because of their content (with references to “violence, sex, and misogyny”), because of Wilcox’s appearance (wearing his judicial robes or partially dressed while in bed) or because of his location (in his chambers, or in the courthouse).
“[Wilcox] 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 complaint states.
It describes one video in Wilcox’s chambers, in which he’s wearing a T-shirt and 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.”
In the “whoop my ass” video, Wilcox lip-syncs “I mean business! You think you can run up on me and whip my monkey ass? Come on. Come on,” according to the complaint.
One video shows him wearing a “Beavis and Butt-Head” T-shirt, walking through the courthouse, while Nas’ “Get Down” plays. The complaint describes the song as containing “explicit lyrics concerning a criminal case and a courtroom shooting.”
“By his conduct in posting these and similar videos to TikTok, Respondent exhibited poor judgment and demonstrated disrespect for the…
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