Former Rep. George Santos filed a civil lawsuit against Jimmy Kimmel on Saturday, alleging that the late-night TV host used a fake name to request a cameo video from the former lawmaker and misused it on his show.
Santos sued Kimmel for copyright infringement, fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. He is seeking at least $750,000 in damages.
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Santos said Kimmel submitted at least 14 requests for clips from Cameo, a site where celebrities sell short, personalized video messages. Ta.
The complaint alleges that Kimmel provided a “false name and description” and submitted “false requests from fake user profiles created by Kimmel as part of the fraud.” The lawsuit was first reported by the New York Post.
Kimmel “chose to license all Cameo videos for personal use with the intent to violate the license by broadcasting and commercially exploiting the Cameo videos on national television,” the statement said.
A representative for Mr. Kimmel did not respond to a request for comment Saturday. NBC News also reached out to ABC and Disney, which were also named as defendants, for comment.
According to the complaint, Kimmel began using videos from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” In December, Santos told an audience that he had a “new job making videos with Cameos for $400 a pop” and couldn't resist Kimmel sending Santos a “ridiculous request.” Part of the video was played in a segment titled “Says Santos?”
According to the complaint, Kimmel joked about the possibility of being sued by Santos during a Dec. 11 episode of the show.
“Can you imagine if I got sued by George Santos for fraud? How good would that be? It would feel like a dream come true,” Kimmel said, according to the complaint. “So, since I started buying his videos, his rate has gone up to $500 apiece. He should be thanking me for buying these videos.”
Kimmel then played two more videos, according to the complaint.
Santos' lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Kimmel on Dec. 12, demanding that the videos be removed from YouTube and TikTok accounts associated with the show.
