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'I'm not a cat': Lawyer goes viral for accidental kitten filter

Rod Ponton said he still isn’t sure how the cat filter entered the virtual courtroom.

TheJournal.ie / YouTube

A LAWYER IN Texas has gone viral after accidentally activating a kitten filter during a virtual courtroom session. 

Footage of the incident on Tuesday shows lawyer Rod Ponton struggling to remove the filter, while judge Roy Ferguson attempted to help him. 

“I don’t know how to remove it … but I’m prepared to go forward with it,” Ponton is heard saying in the video. 

“I’m here live. I’m not a cat.”

Ponton said when he got on the Zoom call everything seemed fine while he was in the waiting room.

“When the judge called the case I disappeared and a cat appeared instead of me, to my great surprise of course,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Ponton said he was using his secretary’s computer at the time and  “everybody’s face popped up except mine, mine was a cat”. 

He and his team still aren’t sure how he ended up with the filter in the virtual courtroom but he has accepted his newfound internet stardom. 

“It just miraculously appeared,” he said of the filter. 

“You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. If it’s got out, it’s gone viral, let it go.”

“As it turns out in hindsight it’s provided a good laugh, I think, for the country,” he said.

“I think anybody that’s ever struggled with a computer, with Zoom, can recognise that those kinds of things can happen and it certainly did happen to me.

“I think the judge was amused, and he took it in good humour, and he’s the one who posted the video to share a funny moment and caution people to make sure your kids don’t have a filter on the computer when you’re trying to do something serious.

A re-post of the mishap to Twitter now has more than six million views.

Judge Ferguson explained that he has seen several Zoom mishaps since beginning virtual proceedings at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, including some “colourful celebrations” from people in court.

“It can be a little dicey,” he said.

Judge Ferguson highlighted that what happened was a “simple mistake that could happen to any one of us” and he did not wish for people to “poke fun” at the lawyer for the mishap.

“It goes hand-in-hand with the legal community’s effort to continue representing their clients in these challenging times,” he said.

- Additional reporting from PA

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    Mute Ger
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    Feb 10th 2021, 8:45 AM

    This was hilarious. Especially the “im live, I’m not a cat” bit.

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    Mute Shougeki
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    Feb 10th 2021, 11:45 AM

    @Ger: That is exactly what a cat would say!

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    Mute Ger
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    Feb 10th 2021, 4:10 PM

    @Shougeki: haha

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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Feb 10th 2021, 8:46 AM

    Must have been discussing a feliny?!

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:10 AM

    Was he defending a purrpatrator.

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    Mute Paul
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    Feb 10th 2021, 8:49 AM

    Could have been a CATrastophe

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    Mute Lucy Legacy
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:00 AM

    I played this about 10 times last night – got more hysterical each time.

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    Mute Suzanne Dorgan
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    Feb 10th 2021, 2:04 PM

    @Lucy Legacy: I did the same pmsl :-)

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:09 AM

    He Litter-ally had to carry on!

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    Mute Gerry Walsh
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:07 AM

    What a crazy meowstake to make!

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:07 AM

    Cat get out of the bag?

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    Mute Rob Gale
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:37 AM

    “I’m not a cat” hahaha oh but you are! Aren’t you? And you’re a very cute cat at that

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    Mute Emma Smith
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:39 AM

    Ah, needed that giggle! I’m not a cat!

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:07 AM

    Cat didn’t get his tongue!

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    Mute John Brophy
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:54 AM

    Would that be a CATegorical denial?……

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:55 AM

    That’s hiss-terical.

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    Mute
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    Feb 10th 2021, 8:56 AM

    A great find.

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    Mute der Fussballmeister
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    Feb 10th 2021, 10:27 AM

    In fairness the quips are serving their purrpose as well.

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    Mute Stephen O'Kelly
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    Feb 10th 2021, 10:32 AM

    What’s the matter..did the cat catch your tongue?!!

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    Mute Seeking Truth
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    Feb 10th 2021, 1:54 PM

    I just finished on a Zoom call where I was the host. So glad I did not have the kitten filter activated by my child LOLOL this is simply hilarious.

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    Mute John Sheahan
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    Feb 10th 2021, 1:17 PM

    Purrfect.

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    Mute John Mc Donagh
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    Feb 10th 2021, 12:38 PM

    Cat–egorically denied that he was “all alone in the moonlight”

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    Mute Gabrielle Hickey
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    Feb 11th 2021, 1:25 AM

    Laughed at this, must have Kilkenny ancestors

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    Mute Johnny Kelly
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    Feb 10th 2021, 9:58 AM

    “I’m not a cat”

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