Lawyer behind viral Zoom cat filter blames secretary for hilarious blunder

Lawyer Rod Ponton chalked up the hilarious viral Zoom cat filter blunder to a mistake his secretary made which was soon rectified.

A virtual courtroom meeting attended by the lawyer with attorney Gibbs Bauer and Hon. Judge Roy B. Ferguson of the 394th district of Texas became viral soon after the judge himself shared a clip of the meeting on Twitter. It grabbed headlines because Ponton appeared as a cat and netizens found it funny because the animal's helpless eyes somehow matched the lawyer's perplexed voice.

Ponton had no idea how to remove the cat filter on Zoom and had to ask his secretary for help. But the hilarious part was that he tried to assure the judge that he is on the meeting live as a person and not as a cat.

"Mr. Ponton I believe you have a filter turned on in your video settings," Hon. Judge Ferguson pointed out to which the cat-Ponton replied, "It is and I don't know how to remove it. I've got my assistant here and she's trying to remove it but uh ... I'm prepared to go forward with it. I'm here live. I'm not a cat."

Bauer thought the filter was caused by a computer glitch. Ponton, on the other hand, admitted that his secretary made the mistake. He shared that he was unaware that the judge posted it on social media and it concerned him since his name was on it.

"Oh, that was just a mistake by my secretary. I was using her computer and for some reason, she had that filter on," he said during a phone interview with Vice.

Ponton revealed that he eventually took the Zoom cat filter off and replaced it with his face. He said they had discussed "a case involving a man trying to exit the United States with contraband and contraband cash." The lawyer further reiterated that it was all a mistake and that "it was taken off and we had the hearing as normal."

Hon. Judge Ferguson took no offense to the incident and even joked about it with the hashtag #OhNo. He shared the clip to remind others to make sure they have Zoom filters off before they join a virtual meeting. He said he shared it "to exemplify the legal community's dedication to the cause of justice" and not to mock Ponton.