Ousted New York Rep. George Santos has filed a lawsuit against Jimmy Kimmel, alleging the funnyman fooled him into making personalized videos via the Cameo app, which he then used as content for his eponymous late-night talk show.
The suit, filed Saturday in Manhattan federal court, was sparked by a segment on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” called “Will Santos Say It?”
Back in December, Kimmel revealed to his audience that Santos — who had just been expelled from Congress over alleged fraud and campaign finance violations — found a new gig on Cameo, a platform that allows celebrities and other high-profile figures to charge fans for customized videos.
According to Santos’ suit, obtained by the Daily News, Kimmel and his team created “phony names and narratives” and then submitted at least 14 requests for clips through the app. It further claims the show’s staff selected “personal use licenses for all the Cameo videos with the intention to violate such licenses by broadcasting and commercially exploiting the Cameo videos on national television.”
In a couple of clips aired during the segment, Santos congratulated a fake fan for winning a meat-eating contest and lauded another for cloning her dog, according to the suit.
“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 during his Dec. 11 show, according to the suit. “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 following day, Santos sent Kimmel a cease-and-desist letter.
“Kimmel admitted to committed copyright infringement and fraud against George in the name of ‘comedy’ and then asked us to sue him, all on national television. So we did,” his attorney, Andrew Mancilla, said in a statement to the Daily News.
Santos is suing Kimmel, ABC and Disney for copyright infringement, fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. He’s seeking $150,000 in statutory damages for each alleged infringement, for a total of $750,000 over five videos. He has also demanded the videos be removed from YouTube and TikTok accounts associated with the show.
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