In bad taste? Sure. But she was looking for a reason. It's pretty obvious.
Very obvious.
She didn't initially have a problem with it until everyone else in the courtroom, including her own damn bailiffs, decided to laugh.
I didn't see a laugh, smile, or so much as a smirk from Ochocinco when he did it or afterward. He even attempted to tell her that it was not his intention to make everyone laugh.
Had he turned to his attorney and said, "Thank you, you did a great job," there wouldn't have been any issue. But after he slapped the guy on the ass, something that he's been used to doing as a sign of respect/praise/thanks since high school athletics, he gets his terms of probation revoked because of the reaction of the courtroom. Not his reaction or his demeanor, but the courtroom.
I know, I know...Ochocinco has a flair for the dramatic. But that's exactly why I don't think he intended to do (or even did) anything wrong in this instance. Nothing he did was dramatic. He never laughed or did anything disrespectful or disruptive to the court's process. He didn't pull a magic marker from his rectum and put his signature on the judge's stationary for his attorney. Yet she attempts to explain that
he's not taking the process seriously because
everyone else in the courtroom is laughing (1:40 - 1:51 in the video).
He turned to his attorney with a serious look on his face, lightly patted his ass, and said, "Thank you."
If domestic relations court is so somber and serious that nothing should distract from the severity of the crimes being adjudicated, then the judge should not congratulate an attorney for doing a great job in the midst of explaining the plea deal to the defendant. And the bailiffs should definitely not laugh at things that occur in the courtroom.