(UnitedHeadlines.com) – On Feb. 17, former New York Rep. George Santos filed a lawsuit against the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” alleging he was deceived into making videos that Jimmy Kimmel used on his show.
In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Santos alleges the 14 videos made using the Cameo app were solicited “under the guise of fandom.” The lawsuit claims that Kimmel concealed his identity when requesting the videos, which Kimmel then used to capitalize on and ridicule Santos’ “gregarious personality.” ABC and Walt Disney Co. were also named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Santos was making the videos through Cameo for $400, where individuals and businesses requested personalized video messages. Without Santos knowing it was him, Kimmel submitted at least 14 requests that he then aired on a segment on his show, “Will Santos Say It?,” according to the complaint.
Kimmel began airing the segments Dec. 7 and then joked about the possibility of Santos suing him on Dec. 11 after Santos stated Kimmel owed him $20,000 for the videos. After Kimmel aired the videos, Santos increased the price of making them to $500, prompting Kimmel to say Santos should say thank you to him “for buying these videos.”
In a social post on Twitter Feb. 17, Santos wrote that Kimmel violated copyright laws.
In the lawsuit, Santos seeks damages to be determined at trial, and $750,000 for statutory damages for the five videos he created that aired on Kimmel’s show and his social media accounts.
In December, Santos was expelled from the House after he refused calls from House members to resign. He is facing a 23-charge indictment for fraud and allegations he defrauded campaign donors by making unauthorized charges on donors’ credit cards. Santos pleaded not guilty to the charges in October.
A special election for his seat was held Feb. 13, with Democrat Tom Suozzi winning the seat.
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