N.J. Judge Who Made Lip-Syncing Videos in His Chambers on TikTok Accused of Misconduct

Superior Court Judge Gary Wilcox allegedly made videos in which he cited provocative lyrics from pop and rap songs

A New Jersey judge posted TikTok videos featuring him lip-syncing to pop and rap songs that contained controversial and provocative lyrics, a judicial committee accusing him of violating conduct rules says.

According to a complaint filed on June 30 by the Supreme Court of New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, Superior Court Judge Gary N. Wilcox shared about 40 videos on the popular social media platform between April 11, 2021 and March 4 of this year. Eleven of them were considered “inappropriate” for containing “references to violence, sex, and misogyny.”

The complaint said that Wilcox, who went by the alias of “Sal Tortorella” on TikTok, posted the clips under the platform’s public setting. The committee alleged that Wilcox recorded several videos in his judge’s chambers featuring songs that contained “profanity, graphic sexual references to female and male body parts, and/or racist terms.”

In one particular video, per the complaint, Wilcox was seen wearing a T-shirt with his face close to the camera singing the lyrics of “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."

The committee alleged that another clip found the judge wearing a suit, holding money, and lighting a match as he sings Miguel’s “Sure Thing," As the song goes, “If you be the cash, I'll be the rubber band. You be the match, I will be a fuse, boom.”

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The complaint referenced another video that Wilcox recorded himself walking through the courthouse wearing a Beavis and Butt-Head T-shirt with Nas’ “Get Down” playing in the background. The song, said the committee, contains explicit lyrics about a criminal case and a courtroom shooting as well as drug and gang references.

“By his conduct in posting these and similar videos to TikTok, [Wilcox] exhibited poor judgment and demonstrated disrespect for the Judiciary and an inability to conform to the high standards of conduct expected of judge,” the committee said in the complaint, adding that Wilcox's behavior undermines the public’s faith in the judiciary.

Wilcox has been a New Jersey Superior Court judge since 2011 who oversees criminal court cases in Bergen County, The Washington Post reported.

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In a statement issued to The New York Times, Robert B. Hille, Wilcox’s attorney said: “I don’t think that at the end of the day anybody is going to believe there was any desire to do any harm here, Hindsight is 20-20.” He went on to tell Law&Crime that Wilcox was “an excellent and hard-working judge," adding that the videos — which are no longer online — continued "only snippets" of music "in the public domain created by mainstream performers" that ultimately “had nothing to do with any case or litigant before him.”

“Like all music, it will elicit a different response depending on who is listening,” Hille told the outlet, noting that he planned to file a response to the complaint in the coming days.

Wilcox has 20 days to file a formal written answer to the complaint, NorthJersey.com reported. PEOPLE reached out to Hille Thursday afternoon for further comment.

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When it receives the answer, the committee will schedule a hearing. Per the New Jersey Courts website, the committee could privately discipline the judge or recommend to the New Jersey Supreme Court such public disciplinary actions as a reprimand, censure, suspension, or the start of proceedings to have the judge removed from the bench.

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