Far-right media personality 'Baked Alaska' pleads guilty after livestreamer disrupts hearing

Far-right streamer Tim "Baked Alaska" Gionet, facing a federal charge for livestreaming inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pled guilty on Friday but not before his court proceedings were ironically interrupted by a livestreamer.

A video posted on YouTube shows livestreamer James Worley stood outside Gionet's modest Florida home. He had on a red T-shirt with a map of the United States, sunglasses and a khaki hat. Traffic whizzed by. He complained about the heat as he waited for the federal court hearing, which ran nearly 30 minutes behind because of technical issues.

He said he wanted to get the first interview of Baked Alaska after the court hearing.

The hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., eventually began with a court staffer giving a routine warning that audio recordings of proceedings were strictly prohibited.

One of Gionet's attorneys told the judge that the 33-year-old former Arizona resident was appearing by video from his home where there was a "a little distraction" going on because someone was livestreaming and protesting outside his home.

"Protesting what?" U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan asked.

“I guess him as a person, I guess," the attorney said.

A few moments later, the attorney told the judge that the protester was recording court proceedings in violation of court rules. The man, standing outside the home, appeared to have dialed into a public-access line set up for the media and the public to follow U.S. District Court court hearings.

"Disconnect the public line," the judge ordered.

Court records filed Friday afternoon showed that Gionet pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the U.S. Capitol. He faces up to six months in prison and will be sentenced Jan. 12. His plea agreement stipulated that he must cooperate with the government's investigation into the Capitol riot.

Worley, in a telephone interview with The Arizona Republic a few hours after the livestream, defended his actions outside Gionet's home. He said he is an acquaintance of Gionet and lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. The livestream was meant to be entertaining and to end with a possible interview, he said.

"I was outside the house on a public right-of-way on the sidewalk. I wasn't protesting at all," Worley said, adding that Gionet lied.

"There was no harm intended. There was no protesting."

Worley said he later changed his YouTube video to private because he was getting harassed by people, who accused him of being in cahoots with Gionet to delay court proceedings. He said that accusation is totally off base.

He said he was unaware the court prohibits audio recordings and didn't hear the staffer remind listers of the prohibition.

The media policy for U.S. Courts in the D.C. District states that "the use of electronic devices to take photographs, make audio or video recordings, or transmit live audio or video streaming is prohibited."

Gionet is known for livestreaming edgy, aggressive videos. He livestreamed from inside the U.S. Capitol as thousands of people overran the building and grounds and drove lawmakers into hiding on Jan. 6, 2021.

The federal complaint against Gionet alleges he entered the U.S. Capitol between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and livestreamed video for 27 minutes on the DLive platform. The complaint alleges Gionet is repeatedly heard encouraging people not to leave.

The video shows him entering a congressional office, sitting on a couch and placing his feet on a table. The video was later posted on YouTube and Twitter, where the FBI viewed it.

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At one point in the video, the complaint says he curses repeatedly at law enforcement, calling one officer an "oath breaker."

Gionet's attorney, Zach Thornley, has argued in court documents that the livestreamer was acting as a member of the press when he entered the Capitol. Thornley has said his client did not engage in violence and told others not to break or vandalize anything. He said Gionet left the building when he was told to go.

Gionet has remained out of custody while facing federal charges. But he has twice been threatened with jail.

In June 2021, he had additional release conditions imposed after having three interactions with Valley law enforcement over six days. In two interactions with Mesa police — which he livestreamed in two parts — he tells police officers that his friend assaulted him and slapped him in the face. Prosecutors also told the judge in June that Gionet has been banned from a Starbucks in Arizona for one year after he allegedly entered the business and played an offensive song. They did not give the store's location.

He is prohibited from having weapons and is required to report any interaction he has with law enforcement to his pretrial services officer.

At the time of his arrest in January 2021, Gionet listed as his residence a home owned by his parents in Queen Creek. Recent court filings say he is leasing a residence in Clearwater, Florida.

Originally from Alaska, he told Business Insider in 2017 that his nickname came about as a way to brand himself. He was working in the entertainment industry, and his boss called him "Alaska."

"So I came up with 'Baked Alaska,' because at the time I was a stoner. So I was like the baked kid from Alaska. And it's also a double meaning because it's a dessert."

Gionet is one of at least 11 people with current or former ties to Arizona who face charges related to the Jan. 6 riot.

The group includes a Cottonwood man dressed as a gladiator who the FBI says lives with his mom, a three-time Olympic swimmer who wore his Olympics team training jacket into the Capitol and yelled "(expletive) Nancy Pelosi!" and a self-described shaman whose bare chest and horned hat became synonymous with the Capitol rampage.

In total, law enforcement has arrested nearly 800 defendants from nearly every state after a crowd of protesters turned violent on Jan. 6, 2021, stormed the historic building and sent lawmakers scrambling for shelter. The insurrection delayed Congress from certifying the presidential election of Democrat Joe Biden.

The criminal cases are slowly making their way through the federal court system as the sheer number of cases and the COVID-19 pandemic have caused delays.

Because of pandemic restrictions, the U.S. District set up public-access telephone lines that allow the public and the media to listen to court proceedings for people facing charges related to the U.S. Capitol riot. But listeners are warned by court staff at the beginning of hearings that recording is strictly prohibited.

After public access to Gionet's Friday court hearing was cut off, Worley, the livestreamer, decided to end his livestream with a joke, leaving what he called a "gift" for Gionet.

Walking across the street, he hung a prisoner shirt — taken from a Halloween costume — on a stop sign across from Gionet's home.

Reach the reporter at anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8072. Follow her on Twitter @anneryman.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Far-right media personality Baked Alaska faces up to 6 months prison