Last week, Corey Harris became an internet meme after he attended a court hearing about his suspended license via Zoom while driving. The clip, featuring a befuddled judge and Harris sighing as he said, “Oh, my God,” quickly went viral.
But the case that made Harris famous online — which was covered by The Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN and Fox News, among others — is more complicated than it first appeared. As local ABC affiliate WXYZ first reported, the 44-year-old Michigander’s license suspension, which was tied to a child-support case, had already been lifted by a judge in 2022, court records show.
To get his license back though, Harris had to pay a fee, according to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office, which acts as the state’s motor vehicles regulator. Harris only paid the $125 fee required for license reinstatement on Monday, a spokesperson told The Post.
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“You have to take that step to be reinstated — it’s like you have to sign a check to make it good,” said Jeffrey Randa, a Michigan-based attorney who focuses on license reinstatement. “Courts often drop the ball all over the place, so nobody might have told him. But, even if a judge orders the suspension to be lifted, it doesn’t take effect until he pays the reinstatement fee.”
It’s unclear whether Harris, who didn’t respond to The Post’s requests for comment, was aware of the fees. He told WXYZ that the viral episode was “very embarrassing” and placed the blame on the Saginaw County Friend of the Court, which is tasked with assisting the court administrator on issues of custody, parenting time and child support.
“They were supposed to have been lifted it two years ago, but they didn’t,” he told the outlet, adding, “Always double-check behind these workers because they will say that they will do something and they don’t do it.”
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Dionne Webster-Cox, Harris’s attorney, told WXYZ Tuesday that her client is “a law-abiding citizen.”
“Now that we know what’s going on, we’re taking the steps to go forward to correct the problem,” she told the station.
Harris has deleted his social media accounts since the video went viral, according to WXYZ. “I’ve been assaulted, I’ve been followed, I’ve been laughed at, I’ve been ridiculed, I have been disrespected,” he told the station.
The onslaught of attention began last week, after the video of Harris’s May 15 hearing at Washtenaw County’s 14A District Court began making the rounds on social media. Harris was charged in October with driving with a suspended license, a misdemeanor. Yet last month, Harris showed up to the virtual proceedings while driving — explaining to the shocked judge that he was “pulling into my doctor’s office.”
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“I’m looking at his records. He doesn’t have a license,” Judge Cedric Simpson says in the clip. “He’s suspended, and he’s just driving.”
“I don’t even know why he would do that,” Simpson said, before revoking Harris’s bond and ordering him to turn himself in to the Washtenaw County jail by 6 p.m. that day.
Harris told WXYZ that he “wasn’t thinking about the fact that I got a suspended license,” when he showed up in court behind the wheel. Instead, he added, “I was thinking about about getting my wife medical help.”
Still, the footage was played on TV segments and radio shows. Online, a throng of netizens scrutinized Harris and turned him into a meme. On May 30, Harris was dubbed the “Donkey of the Day” on “The Breakfast Club,” a popular radio show hosted by Charlamagne Tha God.
Then, more details about his case began to emerge. On Friday, WXYZ published a story about how Harris’s license suspension was in 2022 ordered to be rescinded by a Saginaw County judge. The outlet also reported that the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office had not received the necessary clearance from the county’s Friend of the Court.
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On Monday, Charlamagne Tha God retracted his “donkey” and apologized to Harris.
“I’ve told you all on this radio before there are certain jobs you can’t afford to make mistakes in — okay, doctors, surgeons, police officers, and now we got to add the clerical people who work in the court to the list,” he said. “Because this man, Corey had to report to jail, was embarrassed all over the internet. He’s a meme now. ... I apologize.”
On Reddit, users who initially roasted Harris also had a change of heart, with one writing, “Note to self: don’t rush to judgment and don’t take amusem*nt in other peoples’ misfortunes.”
Harris is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
