Disgraced Long Island congressman George Santos filed suit on Friday against late-night TV comedian Jimmy Kimmel for tricking him into reading joke messages on the celebrity app Cameo and then broadcasting the videos on Kimmel’s show for laughs.
“Kimmel misrepresented himself and his motives to induce [Santos] to create personalized videos for the sole purpose of capitalizing on and ridiculing [Santos’s] gregarious personality,” according to the Manhattan federal court complaint.
Cameo is a platform where celebrities can be hired to create personalized birthday wishes, holiday greetings or motivational messages for anyone willing to pay for the service. The former congressman, who charges $350 per video, told CNN earlier this month that he has sold more than a thousand messages.
At least 14 of those messages have been paid for by the late-night host, who has made Santos the butt of jokes in his opening monologue on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” throughout the ex-congressman’s nearly yearlong time in office.
Not long after he was elected, misrepresentations and lies on Santos’ resume and campaign finance irregularities led to a federal indictment in Central Islip federal court for fraud and money laundering charges.
After Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) was ousted from Congress on Dec. 1, the show started a new segment called “Will Santos Say It?” featuring dummy Cameo messages that, unknown to the former representative, Kimmel paid him to say.
“George, please congratulate my friend Gary Fortuna for winning the Clearwater Florida beef-eating contest. He ate over six pounds of loose ground beef and under 30 minutes — which was a new record. He’s not feeling great right now, but the doctor thinks he’ll be released from the hospital soon. Please wish him a speedy recovery!” was the first message Santos responded to.
Other requests that he responded to included a congratulatory video regarding a cloned schnauzer named “Adolf,” a blind niece who passed her…
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