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Zoom cat filter lawyer passes torch to upside-down congressman

Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota appeared as an upside-down floating head in a committee meeting.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper

Technology for virtual meetings is having its revenge on humans. A day after attorney Rod Ponton went viral for getting stuck with a kitten filter on during a Zoom hearing, we got a new tech fumble. In a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, Minnesota Republican Rep. Tom Emmer, showed up as an upside-down floating head.

Chairwoman Maxine Waters stopped Emmer, and just like with the kitten attorney, the congressman pleaded tech ignorance and said he didn't know how to fix his image.

More viral moments

"I don't know what happened," Emmer said when Waters asked if he was OK. "It just came out this way. I turned it off and turned it back on and I'm still..."

The kitten incident was obviously still fresh in viewers minds, as numerous lawmakers shouted variations on "at least he's not a cat." Said one, "You're going viral, Tom."

Emmer was able to fix his flipped image and continue speaking. He later tweeted a photo of his upside-down face with the knowing caption "I am not a cat."

One Twitter user responded, "Sounds exactly like what a cat would say."