Oyster Bay, New York – Former New York Representative George Santos has filed a civil lawsuit against late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel. Santos claims that Kimmel used fake names to request Cameo videos from him and then misused the clips on his talk show. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges copyright infringement, fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment, seeking at least $750,000 in damages.
According to Santos, Kimmel submitted at least 14 requests for clips on Cameo, a website where celebrities sell personalized video messages. The lawsuit also names Disney and ABC as defendants. Allegedly, Kimmel provided “phony names and narratives,” and sent requests from “fake user profiles created by Kimmel as part of the fraud.” Furthermore, Kimmel chose personal use licenses for the Cameo videos with the intention to violate such licenses by commercially exploiting the videos on national television.
The lawsuit claims that Kimmel began using Santos’ Cameo videos on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in December, some of which were played during a segment titled “Will Santos Say It?” Additionally, Kimmel joked about being sued by Santos in a segment of his show. “Could you imagine if I get sued by George Santos for a fraud,” Kimmel said at the time. “I mean how good would that be? It would be like a dream come true. So since I started buying his videos his rates went way up to $500 a piece. He should be thanking me for buying these videos.”
At this time, neither Kimmel, ABC, nor Disney have provided any comment regarding the lawsuit.
Santos’ will be seeking $750,000 or more in damages, including claims of fraud, in his suit against Kimmel, ABC, and Disney for copyright infringement and unjust enrichment. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. There is no comment at this time from Kimmel, ABC, or Disney regarding the lawsuit.