This is all getting a bit too parody-like, isn’t it?
Novak Djokovic‘s court hearing was, rather awkwardly, reportedly broken up by someone who started broadcasting porn on the live stream.
The remote case was being held over Microsoft Teams and broadcast live, with more than 350 people joining the lobby.
update: the official link for the Novak Djokovic hearing is overloaded. but 20,000 people around the world are able to tune in to three British podcasters' running commentary of the hearing. sharing this footage in Australia is contempt of court, so I've pixellated it too pic.twitter.com/ViQI5F17mK
— Zac Crellin (@zacrellin) January 10, 2022
Even prior to the main event, people who weren’t muted on entry were able to play music and spam the link with a flood of memes as court officials were trying to discuss the Serbian’s visa status as he continues to seek vaccine exemption.
Not sure whats funnier, the whole Djokovic saga showing how blatantly skewed our system is towards the "Elite" or the fact that Australia is so behind in Tech people can jump onto the live stream and broadcast porn 😅
— Pre-eminent (@preem1nent) January 10, 2022
The original link for Djokovic’s court hearing was eventually abandoned after it was co-opted almost entirely by trolls who ended up blocking the bandwidth, meaning the people that were supposed to be in there couldn’t even gain entry.
The Sydney Morning Herald‘s Sarah Danckert said that the official who was tasked with moderating the live stream ultimately left because they could simply no longer mute and manage the sheer number of trolls.
we've all been muted but one guy has his camera on and looks confused, must not have heard the court official come back and say we're not using this link today… before the mute we had a lot of proclaimations from viewers "free the refugees", "free Nole", "this is bad for Aust"
— Sarah Danckert (@sdanck) January 9, 2022
The tennis star did go on to win his deportation case and was expected to go on and play in the Australian Open as originally planned, with the tournament itself having started on Sunday.
However, it has since been reported that the 34-year-old was arrested just hours after the victory. While this story may have started out as a serious discussion surrounding world sport and the impact Covid continues to have, there’s been so many twists and turns that it just feels like something out of an absurdist comedy at this point.
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- Andy Murray says Novak Djoković situation is ‘really bad for tennis’
