“Shut up or shut up,” former Congressman George Santos likes to tell his haters. Now, late night host Jimmy Kimmel is adding to that list.
The ousted Republican filed a civil suit against Kimmel on Saturday, alleging that the comedian abused Santos' Cameo videos by trolling him and then broadcasting 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 who was kicked out of the house for fraud is now accusing the late-night host of the same crime.
According to the suit, Kimmel “misrepresented himself and his motives” to get Santos to “produce custom videos for the sole purpose of taking advantage of and mocking Santos’s social personality.” He previously sent a cease and desist letter to Kimmel in December regarding Cameo's pranks.
After his impeachment from the House of Representatives, Santos opened a highly lucrative account on Cameo, a video-sharing platform that allows users to purchase personalized videos from public figures. He bragged that he was making up to $400 per video, telling CBS that “more money in seven days than I would have made in one year in Congress.” The lawsuit cites 14 “fake requests” Kimmel sent to Santos requesting videos using fake names and narratives.
Kimmel also joked about the possibility of a lawsuit being filed against Santos during an episode of his show in December.
“Can you imagine if I got sued by George Santos for 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 prices have gone up.” To $500 per piece. He should be thanking me for purchasing these videos.”
The lawsuit also names Kimmel's ABC network and parent company Disney as defendants. He is seeking compensation of at least $750,000.
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