Disgraced former NY Representative George Santos has taken the traditional post-congressional career track of recording clips for hire on Cameo. One of his most loyal customers since he began in December was Jimmy Kimmel. Only Santos didn’t know this, as Kimmel’s team sent in requests under fake names and later aired the clips in a segment called “Will Santos Say It?” Now Santos is suing Kimmel and trying to shake down producers ABC & Disney for $750,000 in damages. (Even if Santos has the law on his side, I wish him luck in going up against Disney in court.) But here’s the real kicker: Santos is accusing Kimmel of committing fraud. Fraud! I guess he would know! And it gets even better — the lawsuit further claims that Kimmel took advantage of Santos’ gregarious personality. They actually put that in a legal document! You guys, I’m dying.

Santos claims Kimmel duped him into producing over a dozen personalized videos through the video platform, which he then featured on his late-night talk show, according to a complaint filed Saturday in Manhattan federal court.

In December, a little over a year after his election victory, Santos was booted from the House of Representatives following fraud and other charges and a damning report from the House Ethics Committee alleging he spent campaign funds on OnlyFans, Botox, and Hermes.

Santos quickly began shilling his image on the app Cameo, where celebrities can sell personalized videos, and unknowingly made at least 14 clips for pseudonymous requests from Kimmel for $500 a pop, according to the complaint.

Among Kimmel’s scripts for Santos were videos congratulating a woman for successfully cloning her schnauzer named Adolf, as well as a man for winning a competitive ground beef eating contest, court papers noted.

In addition to allegedly violating Cameo’s terms of service and Santos’ copyright, the suit claims Kimmel committed fraud by using fake aliases to solicit videos “for the sole purpose of capitalizing on and ridiculing [Santos’] gregarious personality” — and even bragged on his show about his duplicity.

Kimmel “played on the comedic irony of possibly getting sued by [Santos] for fraud, claiming [on his show] that it would be a ‘dream come true,’” the suit notes.

The federal suit is the latest salvo in the feud between Kimmel and the lying ex-legislator, who infamously fabricated his background during his congressional run.

After several of the videos were played on the show in a segment titled “Will Santos Say It?” the former legislator’s attorney Andrew Mancilla sent a cease and desist letter to Kimmel and threatened to sue over the clips’ use.

Santos is seeking at least $750,000 in damages. ABC and Disney are also named in the complaint.

“Jimmy, sorry that my Christmas gift to you came late, but here’s to making wishes come true,” Santos told The Post. “I hope you enjoy reading your lawsuit for fraud that you’ve been looking forward to.”

[From NY Post]

Ok first of all, I want a cheesy TV movie made about Santos with the title OnlyFans, Botox, and Hermes: The George Santos Story. As for the legal bits, as much as it pains me to say this, I think Santos may have a case. In the Cameo Community Guidelines, item 1 clearly states that you must use your real name and photos to be in line with their Terms of Service. But what Kimmel has to worry about even more is item 2, particularly this language: “Don’t do things that are deceptive or misleading to others. This includes making requests that you know (or should know) would embarrass talent, compromise their integrity, or otherwise tricking, deceiving, or misleading them.” Obviously the biggest point of contention will be if it’s even possible for someone to ‘compromise Santos’ integrity’ more than Santos has done to himself. Kimmel’s attorneys could take it even further and spin it into a philosophical question: how much is each of us culpable in contributing to our own ridicule? Because I’ve watched these Cameo videos that Kimmel paid for (what, it was research!) and if Santos didn’t realize he was gonna be laughed at by whomever the video was for, then he’s even less self-aware than I thought. At a certain point your honor, the plaintiff bears responsibility for the jeers engendered when he accepted money to toast Mama Brenda for successfully cloning her schnauzer Adolf after many failed attempts. The defense rests.

PS — Hey there Georgie boy, a little tip: if sometime between now and March 10 you get a Cameo request to congratulate so-and-so on their Academy Award win… you know what nevermind.

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