The West Texas lawyer who accidentally used a kitten filter in his viral moment in court.

The cat got the tongue of lawyer Rod Ponton today in a virtual court – after a cat filter quickly caught his face. Ponton, who works as a lawyer for the Texas Presidio County, attended a Zoom hearing on Tuesday prepared to discuss a civil confiscation action, but in the square where he was used to seeing his own face looking at him, he was surprised to find out a kitten with huge sad eyes sitting there. Furthermore, the animal was imitating his facial expressions, changing his eyes in sync with his own and moving his mouth when he spoke. “Sir. Ponton, I believe you have a filter activated,” said the court judge. “I don’t know how to remove it,” said the kitten back in Ponton’s voice. “I’m with my assistant here, she’s trying . “Even so, he was not intimidated:” I am prepared to go ahead. I am here live. I am not a cat. “

All of this was captured in a clip that went viral as a now familiar type of remote work cautionary tale, in which a kitten’s desperate eyes speak to the soul of a tired nation. But the judge and lawyer involved insist that it was not such a big deal; they were able to remove the filter a few seconds after the clip ended. “It was obviously fun, but if you look carefully, you will see that everyone was extremely professional,” District Judge Roy Ferguson said at an impromptu Zoom press conference this afternoon, declaring the incident “just another day at Zoom’s virtual court” . When contacted by phone, Ponton – who, again, is not a cat – took a few minutes to tell Slate his not-so-distressing side of the story. Our conversation was condensed and edited.

Slate: So, uh, what happened?

Rod Ponton: The district court had all of its hearings via Zoom for several months, you know, to be safe from the COVID epidemic. This computer was also my office computer, but it is used mainly by one of my secretaries who has small children. And for some reason she had a cat filter. Instead of my video, the cat appeared.

Your secretary must be feeling terrible.

Oh yes, she was embarrassed. She couldn’t figure out how to get rid of it. The judge told us how to do it.

Lucky that the judge knew how to do that. I don’t think I would know.

He is a person well versed in computers. The judge told me what to click on, to get rid of the filter, and my less handsome face finally appeared, and we continued with our audience.

Did you panic when your face was a big-eyed cat?

Well, I was just ashamed. You try to present your best face to the district judge, instead of the image of a cat.

It was a very cute cat, at least.

Things happen.

Did you know that Zoom had the ability to turn you into a cat?

I did not do. It was a surprise for me.

Are you worried that it will make you look unprofessional?

No, no, it’s just one of those little computer confusions that happens in our time, when we try to take care of everything with Zoom. Now, apparently, it has gone viral, which is very funny.

Yes, I think a lot of people had a lot of fun.

We have a sense of humor here in western Texas. If I can make everyone smile for a moment, today I am happy to do so, even at my own expense.

Did your secretary find out which of your children was using the computer last and what exactly were they doing?

I couldn’t tell you. I do not know. We got rid of the cat image and continued and ended our hearing. And that was the end of it.

If you were to choose an animal that you would like to use as a filter in court, would it be a cat or would you choose a different animal?

Uh… for today, I’m going to have a cat.

Do you have any pets at home?

A puppy.

So you wouldn’t want to be a dog in court?

I do not know. I don’t usually try to portray myself as an animal. This is all new to me.