George Santos, a former member of the House of Representatives, is suing Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and The Walt Disney Company over a segment on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” according to Deadline.
The suit alleges that Kimmel and subsequently his network, ABC, and their parent company Disney, owe Santos compensation for videos used on Kimmel’s late night satire show. The videos in question were purchased by Kimmel using aliases on the website Cameo, which allows fans to purchase videos from participating “celebrities.” The fans can dictate (within guidelines) what they want the celebrity to say on the video.
Kimmel commissioned multiple videos under different aliases with the intent to play them in a new segment on his show. Santos has accused Kimmel of “deliberate deception and wrongful appropriation of the Plaintiff’s digital content” as well as using them “for commercial gain—actions that starkly violate the original agreement and constitute clear copyright infringement.”
According to Deadline, the following Cameos were purchased by Kimmel for this purpose:
‘Under the pseudonym of “Chris Cates,’ Kimmel on December 6 paid Santos $400 to congratulate a fake friend for winning the Clearwater Florida Beef Eating Contest. The same day, under the name ‘Jane,’ Kimmel paid Santos to praise hios fake mom for successfully cloning her ‘beloved schnauzer Adolf.’ On December 7, going be ‘Uncle Joe,’ (a Biden homage?), Kimmel paid Santos to praise his fake blind niece for passing her driving test.’ That said, the day after she got her license, she got in a really bad car accident so if you could also wish her a speedy recovery that would be amazing,’ the fake request added. ‘She’s in a bodycast and is a very bummed out – but with help from Jesus and President Trump, soon she will be back on the road!'”
Watch one of the segments, called “Will Santos Say It?” in the video below. The segment begins at 6:52.
George Santos originally alleged that Kimmel owed him “$21,800 and change” for the commercial use of the videos. Now, the lawsuit is over $750,000, and “actual damages, punitive damages, and disgorgement of Defendants’ profits to be determined at trial, plus interest.”
At the time of publication, Disney has not commented on the lawsuit.
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