Disgraced Congressman Suing Disney For Fraud

If you are interested in politics and watching the news, then odds are, you may have heard of disgraced New York Republican Congressman George Santos. Santos was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2022, but was expelled from Congress in December 2023. His expulsion came after an investigation was launched into the many lies that Santos told during his election campaign.

Credit: George Santos Instagram

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Santos’ legal troubles have followed also followed him out of Washington. He is currently facing federal charges of Conspiracy, Wire Fraud, False Statements, Falsification of Records, Aggravated Identity Theft, and Credit Card Fraud. There is even debate around whether George Santos is even his real name.

A special election was recently held in Santos’ district and was won by Democrat Tom Suozzi.

Credit: Rep. George Santos Instagram

Due to the absurd nature of some of Santos’ many lies, he has become fodder for late-night television hosts. This includes ABC star Jimmy Kimmel, who found it hilarious when Santos made a Cameo account. Cameo is a platform where people can pay celebrities to send personalized messages to friends and family.

And it is that very Cameo account that is the subject of a lawsuit Santos has filed against Disney, ABC, and Kimmel himself.

Credit: Disney/ABC

On February 17, Santos filed his lawsuit against the Mouse House Kimmel, claiming fraud and copyright infringement. The lawsuit was filed after Kimmel admitted to pranking Santos on his Cameo platform. The lawsuit, which was shared by Deadline, states:

“Defendants openly admitted to deceiving the Plaintiff under the guise of fandom, soliciting personalized videos only to then broadcast these on national television and across social media channels for commercial gain—actions that starkly violate the original agreement and constitute clear copyright infringement.”

Credit: Late Night With Jimmy Kimmel

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Lawyers for Santos say that, when users agree to pay Santos for personalized video messages, those videos will not be used on national television. It is part of the terms and conditions set forth by Cameo. They claim that Kimmel used phony names so he could obtain videos for the specific purpose of using them on his late-night talk show.

Credit: Disney/ABC

Over the months, Kimmel has created a number of fake names on Cameo. He allegedly used the names Chris Cates, Jane, and Uncle Joe to get Santos to do things like congratulate someone on the cloning of their dog Adolf. One of the fake accounts also asked for a speedy recovery for a teen girl, who would be on the mend with the help of Jesus and Donald Trump.

You can see Kimmel talking about the videos he requested on his show below. The Santos story begins at the 6:53 mark.

Santos is seeking more than $1 million in damages from Disney, ABC, and Kimmel. His lawsuit states that he is requesting $750,000 from Disney and Kimmel. But he is also looking for an undisclosed amount of money for “actual damages, punitive damages, and disgorgement of Defendants’ profits to be determined at trial, plus interest.”

His lawyers are also demanding a permanent injunction, which would prevent the Cameo videos from ever being broadcast again.

Neither Disney nor Kimmel has responded to the lawsuit.

Do you think George Santos has a case? Let us know in the comments.