NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Norm Pattis is known for vigorously defending some of the most reviled suspects in a courtroom.
Now, the Connecticut attorney is defending himself in the court of public opinion on the heels of his admittedly offensive standup comedy routine going viral.
“Nnnnegotiable!” Pattis is seen slowly emphasized in front of the live audience at an East Haven pizza shop in the now-viral video.
Pattis, a prominent criminal defense attorney was caught on camera with his pants pulled down, taunting the use of the N-word.
“I definitely found a lot of offense to it. Especially seeing the ignorance that was clearly behind it,” remarked Teddy Ren, a comedian who witnessed the routine.
Then, after several forced attempts, Pattis said the N-word.
“You just can’t say certain words. They’re off-limits, and one of those words is N****,” he said, according to the video.
Pattis, who’s defended the likes of Fotis Dulos and Alex Jones has recently been dabbling in standup comedy.
“I think the true talent of a comedian is figuring out how to say what you want to say and making sure we are all on the same page with it,” said Ren, in response to Pattis’ tirade.
The eight-minute-long video goes on to show Pattis mocking former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem.
“I’m in church!” Pattis can be heard saying in the video. “I don’t want to hear any of that. I don’t want to hear about Black Lives Matter!”
Then Pattis took a shot at U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the nation’s first openly gay cabinet member.
“I think he hit off every checkbox with homophobia, racism,” remarked Ivelisse Correa, the CEO of Black Lives Matter 860.
The organization is now calling for Pattis to lose his law license.
“I think he should be disbarred. You can’t trust someone like that to be ethical,” said Correa.
BLM 860 said they are filing complaints with the grievance committee of the state judicial branch, who told FOX61 in a statement: “The Statewide Grievance Committee cannot confirm whether there is an investigation of an attorney; it would be confidential unless there is probable cause of misconduct.”
Pattis has since doubled down on the rhetoric in his blog post titled, ‘Who owns the language?’ where he wrote, in part, “The woke elite are much in need of ridicule and comedic takedown…”
“If there’s going to be a teachable lesson after seeing his responses to everything, I don’t think it will come from simple conversation,” responded Ren.
FOX61 reached out to Pattis, who said a text message: “If people want to make a run at my license, let them.”
He went on to say, “we’re confident the First Amendment wins.”
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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