Ah, daytime court shows. One of many ways to spend part of an afternoon that mixes boredom with abject judgment of other people. One of the most popular TV judges out there is Joe Brown, who dependably carried out justice on a daily basis, and did it with one of television’s most hardcore mustaches. Today, though, that mustache is behind bars, as Brown is finally serving a jail sentence over a courtroom incident from last year. Someone stop this table from turning!
Brown is currently doing time at the Shelby County Corrections Facility in Memphis, Tennessee. Granted, he won’t be in jail for very long, as this is the first day of a suspended five-day sentence, but it’s a sentence that he racked up himself in a Memphis courtroom in March 2014, when he was originally sentenced and then released on his own recognizance. The reason? Contempt of court. Really, it was mostly his contempt for the magistrate presiding over the case he was working.
While serving as a lawyer for a child support case, Brown got pretty heated with a judge and mentally climbed upon a high horse and did not back down. It wasn’t quite in full-on Al Pacino mode as TMZ says in their report, but it damn sure wouldn’t have felt out of place during the runtime of The Devil’s Advocate.
If you’re interested in hearing his tirade, in which he amusingly threatens to shut the court down, then look (or listen) no further than the video below. Grab some popcorn.
Had he just backed down initially, he would have only had to spend one day in jail, but he just kept stoking the fire. I know that Seinfeld’s Jackie Chiles was based on Johnnie Cochran, but this recording could easily fool someone into thinking it’s the inspiration. If only Brown had been mortified and stupefied by the contempt of court ruling.
Brown used to be one of the most recognizable faces on TV, with his show Judge Joe Brown serving as a solid counterpart for Judge Judy. He was known as someone who liked to get to the bottom of a case, but had little problem leaking out his opinions about potentially guilty parties through snide comments. His argumentative attitude also played a part in his ratings-declined show getting canceled in 2013, as he refused to accept a paycut from CBS Television Distribution. He later called the company out for mistreating him in a multitude of ways. I wonder if he’ll say the same thing about Shelby County jail.
