Judge Mathis checks Judge Joe Brown for calling his wife a ‘hoe’

Judge Mathis says Judge Brown crossed the line with his remarks about his wife and suggests something might be “wrong” with him.

The courtroom drama has officially spilled out of TV land and into real life, and Judge Greg Mathis isn’t letting it slide when it comes to defending his wife, Linda Reese Mathis. 

In a recent interview with The Art of Dialogue, the beloved TV judge addressed remarks made by fellow television jurist Judge Joe Brown, who publicly speculated about Mathis’s wife in deeply disrespectful terms. Brown’s comment: “Well, I don’t know if his wife is a h*e or not. If she takes money … she might be,” which quickly triggered Mathis. 

“If Judge Brown felt that I disrespected him when I responded to his attack, I apologize,” Mathis began, with a hint of grace. “Because that’s not what I wanted to do. Quite frankly, I don’t want to fight him. I don’t want to go back and forth.”

Judge Mathis responds to Judge Joe Brown for disrespecting his wife and calling her a H*e

(🎥: The Art Of Dialogue/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/J8xZFz9pnM— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) October 16, 2025

But the 65-year-old Detroit native didn’t hold back for long. “Lions don’t fight monkeys, it’s unfair. And to put it in street vernacular, gangsters don’t fight lames,” Mathis said. “In my case, an OG ain’t fighting a lame. So, I don’t want to fight with him, I want to give him some care! Something is wrong!”

“The man put my wife’s name in his mouth in the context of a h*e when I had mentioned him calling [Kamala Harris] a h*e, and I said he better not say it about my wife,” he added, referencing Brown’s comments about the former vice president, which sparked this feud. 

Mathis went on to recall how Brown appeared to take that warning as a challenge. “Something to the effect of ‘Well, I don’t know if his wife is a h*e or not. If she takes money or if she said that then she might be,’” Mathis said, repeating Brown’s words verbatim.

“Who talks like that and not have any fear?” Mathis questioned. “I would have fear of saying that, and as I just told you, I’m fearless. So I think something’s wrong. The man is near 80, which is about the time dementia sets in if you’re going to get it. If you think about it long enough, folks in that age group, 80 or more, those that talk crazy, you hear ’em talk crazy all the time.”

The exchange between the two TV titans has been simmering for years, but Mathis made it clear he’s not here for any more slick talk. “He doesn’t know her, so who is he to judge?” he said in a separate clip, adding that he’s not stooping to Brown’s level. “He’s displaying toxic masculinity.”

Mathis also issued a direct challenge to Brown to confront him man-to-man. “If you have something to say, come say it to me,” he said.

The TV judge’s defense of his wife is no surprise, as the two recently reconciled their marriage after Linda initially filed for divorce in August 2024. Though they ultimately called off the divorce three weeks later, it took the couple a year to discuss their reconciliation publicly. 

“They were devastating, and felt like I did when I lost my mother. That’s the feeling I had. And I’d do anything to get my mother back. So I did anything to get my wife back,” Mathis said. And now he’ll clearly do anything to protect his wife.