He is being investigated because he filmed himself at work and in a judge’s robe while rapping.
A judge who obviously celebrates rap songs online initially sounds like a meme that has the potential to go viral. But the lyrics of Busta Rhymes and Nas have now brought a complaint and investigation against a judge from the US state of New Jersey.
The problem: Gary N. Wilcox, the name of the Supreme Court Justice, is said to have uploaded a total of 40 clips to TikTok under the username “Sal Tortorella” between April 2021 and March 2023, the content of which, according to the “New Jersey Globe”, was classified by authorities as perceived as “inappropriate”.
For example, in one of the TikTok videos, he raped Nas’ “Get Down” while walking through the courthouse. According to the New Jersey Globe, the complaint should read as follows:
“The song contains explicit lyrics referring to a criminal trial and a courtroom shooting, as well as derogatory and discriminatory language, references to drugs and gangs, and the murder of a doctor in a hospital who was treating another gang member.”
In further clips of this kind he would even be seen in judge’s robes. Authorities also found a video of him singing along to Busta Rhyme’s song “Touch It,” the part about being given oral sex by a woman. The caption: “When an ex-girlfriend calls you ‘Santa’ because of your new white beard”. He is therefore still accused of: “obscenities, graphic sexual allusions to female and male body parts, violence, misogyny and racist terms”.
Wilcox, who was admitted to the New Jersey bar more than 30 years ago and has been a Supreme Court justice since 2011, according to The New York Times, is scheduled to appear in court again later this year. His possible disciplinary measures range from a reprimand to dismissal from the judiciary.