The swinging head of baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr. crashed at the woman’s court confirmation hearing on Zoom this week.
While Judge Laura Ripken, Maryland, was confirmed in court on Monday for special appeals, she said: “My husband Cal, who was my biggest fan and the most amazing man imaginable, is joining me here in my home office today.”
The former Baltimore Orioles player joined his wife during the video conference, but the virtual background used made him look disembodied. Judge Ripken’s hair looked purple during the confirmation hearing.
“Here’s proof that I did not just turn into a head and that Laura did not dye her hair purple,” Cal Ripken Jr., also known as ‘The Iron Man’, tweeted while sharing a photo of himself embracing his wife.
Judge Ripken was first appointed to the bench in 2010. Since January 2019, she has been chairing the conference of the judges of the circuit court. She is also the judge who led the case over the case of Jarrod Ramos, who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting five people at The Capital Gazette in 2018.
The incident with a floating head occurred in the same week when a lawyer in Texas appeared at a virtual court hearing with a filter that made him look like a white cat.
Also this week, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., appears upside down during a virtual committee hearing. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, asked if he was not well.
“I do not know how to fix it,” Emmer replied after several members told him he was upside down. A representative jokingly pointed out during the trial that “he is at least not a cat.”
Bucket later reappears to the top right.
