George Santos wasn’t lying when he threatened to sue Jimmy Kimmel.
As first reported by The New York Post, Santos filed a complaint in Manhattan federal court Saturday morning against Kimmel, ABC, and Disney, alleging that Kimmel misrepresented himself when he commissioned over a dozen Cameo videos from Santos in December.
The videos, purchased for $500 a piece, saw Santos reading from outlandish scripts and were aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live! under the rubric of a feature Kimmel dubbed “Will Santos Say It?”
In the complaint, Santos alleges that Kimmel’s on-air use of the videos violated the expelled representative’s copyright, and broke Cameo’s terms of service. Santos also argues that Kimmel committed fraud when he used aliases to commission the videos “for the sole purpose of capitalizing on and ridiculing” Santos.
The late-night host previously rebuffed the disgraced former congressman’s demand that he pay him $20,000 for airing the clips on his show. At the time, Kimmel joked on-air that it would be “a dream come true” to be sued for fraud by Santos, who was himself expelled from Congress for “fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations.”
In a statement to the Post, Santos had a message for Kimmel. “Jimmy, sorry that my Christmas gift to you came late, but here’s to making wishes come true… I hope you enjoy reading your lawsuit for fraud that you’ve been looking forward to.”
