Lawyer accidentally turns on kitten filter during virtual case hearing

A Texas court hearing over Zoom went viral after a lawyer accidentally activated a cat filter and then couldn’t turn off.

In the Zoom meeting, one of the lawyers, Rod Ponton, became a fluffy white kitten in a moment. Mr Ponton’s head appeared as a cat alongside the two men in suits.

In the video, Judge Roy Ferguson asked the lawyer if he wanted to turn of the filter.

“Can you hear me, judge?” Mr Ponton responded as a kitten.

“I can hear you. I think it’s a filter,” the judge replied.

“It is, and I don’t know how to remove it,” the lawyer said in response.

Later, in a phone interview with The New York Times, the lawyer talking about the incident said: “If I can make the country chuckle for a moment in these difficult times they’re going through, I’m happy to let them do that at my expense.”

Mr Ponton added that his secretary – whose computer he was using for the call – was “embarrassed” by the mistake.

But the whole incident took less than a minute before he figured out how to deactivate the filter and return to business.

“My older and less humorous face popped up, and we continued with the hearing,” he said.

Judge Ferguson shared the video clip on Twitter with the caption: “These fun moments are a by-product of the legal profession’s dedication to ensuring that the justice system continues to function in these tough times. Everyone involved handled it with dignity, and the filter lawyer should incredible grace. True professionalism all around.”