“Put up or shut up,” former congressman George Santos likes to tell his haters. Now, he’s adding late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to that list.
The ousted Republican filed a civil suit against Kimmel on Saturday, alleging the comedian misused Santos’ Cameo videos by catfishing him and then airing the videos on his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, for laughs.
It accuses Kimmel of violating Cameo’s terms of service and committing fraud and copyright infringement in the process. Ironically, the congressman booted from the house over fraud is now accusing the late-night host of the same offense.
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According to the suit, Kimmel “misrepresented himself and his motives” to get Santos to “produce personalized videos for the sole purpose of capitalizing on and ridiculing” Santos’ “gregarious personality.” He previously sent a cease-and-desist letter to Kimmel in December over the Cameo pranks.
After he was removed from the House of Representatives, Santos opened a highly lucrative account on Cameo, a video-sharing platform where users buy personalized videos from public figures. He boasted he was making as much as $400 per video, telling CBS it was “more money in seven days than I would’ve made in a year in Congress.” The lawsuit cites 14 “Fake Requests” Kimmel sent to Santos requesting videos, using false names and narratives.
Kimmel also joked about the possibility of getting sued by Santos during an episode of his show in December.
“Could you imagine if I get sued by George Santos for a fraud? I mean how good would that be? It would be like a dream come true,” Kimmel said. “So since I started buying his videos his rates went way up to $500 a piece. He should be thanking me for buying these videos.”
The lawsuit also names Kimmel’s network ABC and its parent company Disney as defendants. He’s seeking a minimum of $750,000 in damages.
