A lawyer frantically told a judge 'I'm not a cat' after accidentally leaving a kitten filter on during a court hearing on Zoom.
The farcical scenes happened during a live-streamed hearing at a court in the US state of Texas.
In an hilarious video of the incident presiding judge Roy Ferguson is heard telling Presidio County lawyer Rod Ponton he might want to turn his filter settings off.
He said: "I believe you have a filter turned on in the video settings. You might want to uh..."
The no doubt mortified lawyer is then heard to gasp before saying: "We are trying to. Can you hear me, judge?"
The judge answered: "I can hear you, I think it's a filter."
The lawyer said: "It is and I don’t know how to remove it. I've got my assistant here, she’s trying to, but I’m prepared to go forward with it.
"I’m here live. I’m not a cat."
The judge replied: "I can see that," Ferguson deadpanned, before walking through how to remove the filter.
The judge went on to share the video on social media, where it has since gone viral and has been viewed millions of times.
He captioned the 'important zoom tip' with the message: "If a child used your computer, before you join a virtual hearing check the Zoom Video Options to be sure filters are off.
"This kitten just made a formal announcement on a case.
"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 filtered lawyer showed incredible grace. True professionalism all around."
He added that despite the judicial warning that it was a contempt of court offence to record the video he would give the permission for 'educational purposes'
In an interview with the San Antonio Express News about the incident the lawyer said that the filter was removed after about 30 seconds and the court continued the hearing.
He said: "It was certainly not an intentional thing to put the cat image up there but s*** happens."
Court hearings have begun to be held remotely since the beginning of the pandemic.
While in-person hearings continue in the UK lawyers do make use of online hearings when necessary using Cloud Video Platform.
It is illegal to make any recordings in a court room and this includes virtual hearings being held remotely.
