A courtroom livestream has gone viral for all the wrong reasons after a lawyer, mid-argument, accidentally addressed a Colorado judge as “honey” — then unraveled in real time.
The painfully awkward exchange unfolded Tuesday during a Colorado Court of Appeals hearing in the case People v Delgato - which focused on whether a defendant’s convictions of sexual assault should run consecutively or concurrently.
But legal nuance quickly took a backseat when attorney William Kozeliski, arguing on behalf of the state, slipped into informal territory under questioning from Judge Elizabeth L. Harris.
“I know but, honey, or — oh my god, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, your honor. That, that, that, I don’t know what to say to that. I apologise,” Kozeliski stammered, visibly flustered.
It was an excruciating moment to behold, however, it was given some brevity by Judge Terry Fox (seated center) smiling by Kozeliski's slip of the tongue.
Kozeliski attempted to recovery and continue with his point, before saying: “I’m sorry, your honour, I’ve just been totally thrown by my mistake."
Even Judge Harris couldn’t ignore the moment. “Yeah, I can imagine. I can imagine,” she said. “I’m a little thrown by that also, if I’m being honest.”
The clip quickly spread across Bluesky, where users described it as “the new worst thing.” One commenter summed up the collective second-hand embarrassment: “Whatever happened after ‘honey’ I will never know because I could not bear to watch any more.”
Another added: "It's not every day that you see a moment that is going to haunt someone for the rest of their lives."
A third commented: "I would resign from the bar and go find a bog to live out the rest of my days in."
And one utterly dumbfounded social media user commented: "I know I’ve already said this, but I would have s**t myself into a life-threatening intestinal hemorrhage and died".
Later in the livestream — though not shown in the viral video — Kozeliski apologized again. “My brain didn’t turn on and I apologise profusely,” he said, to which Judge Harris responded: “I accept your apology.”
The footage did later make its way to X (formerly Twitter), where social media users once again questioned what on earth caused Kozeliski to slip up in such a way. However, I personally agree with this X user, who writes: "Honey sounds phonetically like Honor.
"He calls her honor later in the video. So probably a slip, because of similar-sounding words, and he felt like he was talking to his wife or daughter."
...Let's hope that's all it is, anyway.
While no harm appears to have been done beyond the mortification, the moment is already etched into the growing internet archive of courtroom slip-ups, earning a spot in the unofficial hall of legal cringe.