- A video of a Zoom
court hearing showing a man driving with a suspended license went viral. - The video went viral on Instagram,
Reddit , andTikTok .
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The 37-second video shows Kevon Burns, 28, driving a car while attending a court hearing over Zoom, despite having a suspended license due to a 2020 charge, court records show. The hearing appeared to concern a September 2020 charge of operating a motor vehicle "without security," according to court records. Operating a vehicle without security means driving without car insurance and is considered a misdemeanor in Michigan that can result in fines between $200-$500 or up to a year in prison.
The viral clip shows Judge Erane C. Washington of the 14-B District Court in Ypsilanti, Michigan, reprimanding Burns for driving with a suspended license during a Zoom hearing.
"Are you driving right now?" Washington asked Burns at the start of the hearing. "Yeah," Burns responded. The judge asked Burns to park and exit the vehicle.
After, Burns said, "are you having a bad day, just say that," directed at Washington, who replied that she was not having a bad day until he "started talking while driving at the same time that you're suspended."
Insider was unable to verify whether Burns or one of the others present on the Zoom call for the day's respective hearings recorded Burns' interaction with Washington. But Burns posted the clip to his own Instagram page on October 7 and tagged the drama account The Shade Room, which reshared the video on October 8 and amassed over 2.9 million views and 17,000 comments.
The video spread further after the hip-hop account WorldStar shared it on Instagram the same day, amassing over 2 million views. On October 10, a Reddit user reshared the clip to r/facepalm, the platform's sub-forum dedicated to "the stupidity of individuals online and IRL." The user posted the clip with the headline "Guy with suspended license shows up to zoom court while driving" and gained over 26,000 upvotes and 487 comments.
Then, last Friday, another person reposted the video to TikTok, where it blew up further and garnered over 3.7 million views and 490,000 likes.
@savvibeauty License suspended but driving while in virtual court! ##funnyvideos ##funnytiktok ##goodlaughs ##MakeADogsDay ##fyp ##fypシ
♬ original sound - savvibeauty
After the footage from his Zoom hearing went viral, Burns tried to monetize his viral fame with a Shopify website selling sweatshirts and T-shirts featuring his quote from the video, "If You Having A Bad Day Just Say That." He has since advertised the apparel on his Instagram account.
Burns told Insider in an interview that within days of the clip going viral he received a notice that the court was holding him in contempt, which occurs when a person disobeys a court order or disrupts the court's legal process and can result in punishments including incarceration and fines. Burns said there was no specific reason for contempt listed on the document.
Insider could not obtain the contempt notice, but court records show that Burns is next due in court on November 4 for a contempt hearing.
Burns said that the judge told him during the hearing that he had until December to make payments to remove the suspension from his driver's license.
Burns told Insider that he thinks it's possible he's being held in contempt because the judge saw his video go viral and she didn't like his attempt to monetize his internet fame.
Court records show that Burns was also charged with driving "while suspended, revoked, denied," though Insider could not confirm the date of that charge.
Burns' attorney and Judge Washington did not respond to requests for comment.