Judge suspended for posting scandalous and “derogatory” TikTok videos in judicial robes

A New Jersey judge was officially suspended for posting TikToks that failed to “observe high standards and conduct.”

Beren County Superior Court Judge, Gary Wilcox, was suspended for three months over TikToks posted to his now-deleted account.

Wilcox, who is also known online as ‘Sal Tortorella,’ went viral from 2021-2023 for posting half-naked videos filmed inside his bedroom. 

What’s more, according to a 2023 complaint from the state’s Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, the Harvard-educated judge filmed himself lip-syncing swear-filled lyrics from inside his judicial chambers.

Reportedly, Wilcox posted 40 TikToks full of so-called inappropriate content. In one of his videos, he could be seen posing in front of law books while lip-syncing the words, “All my life, I’ve been waiting for somebody to whoop my ass. I mean business! You think you can run up on me and whip my ass? Come on. Come on!”

The complaint also accused the judge of featuring lyrics with “drug and gang references,” as well as “derogatory and discriminatory terms.”

In response to the court’s accusations, Wilcox’s attorneys defended their client by saying the judge was having “innocent fun.”

“It was a simple exercise in what was believed to be innocent fun. He never intended any harm, let alone to himself or the judiciary,” his attorneys wrote. “Since this activity seemed like silly, harmless, and innocent fun, [Wilcox] opened his account out of curiosity to explore this new phenomenon.”

Despite their defense, according to court documents, Wilcox admitted that his actions brought “disrepute to the judiciary.”

Wilcox’s attorneys also asked that the committee admonish him. Instead, they suspended him for breaking three judicial rules – one of which was for failing to “observe high standards and conduct.”

The judge’s suspension was implemented on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, and will continue until January 8, 2025.

While Wilcox faces his suspension, TikTok itself is facing a potential ban in the United States. The platform’s parent company, ByteDance, has until April 2024 to either sell its U.S. operations or face the ban.