If you stay up-to-date with politics, then you probably remember former New York Congressman George Santos. The unknown Republican shocked New Yorkers when he flipped a notoriously Democratic district in 2022. While Republicans celebrated the surprising win, Santos soon confronted serious allegations about his misuse of campaign funds, lying on his résumé, using a stolen checkbook to buy goods in Brazil, and even lying about his real name.
Just days after Santos began his tenure in the US House of Representatives, multiple Republicans called for Santos to resign. In May 2023, Santos was indicted on federal charges and was officially expelled from the House. Instead of making a difference, Santos became fodder for the media, who constantly used the disgraced Congressman as comedic material.
One of the media personalities who frequently attacked Santos was late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel had a segment on his show called Will Santos Say It? In the segment, he showed videos of Mr. Santos reading absolutely ridiculous things via Cameo videos. Kimmel’s team had paid Santos to say those things, but Santos did not know they would be aired on the show.
In February, Santos filed a lawsuit against Kimmel and The Walt Disney Company for copyright infringement. Santos claimed that Kimmel had violated Cameo rules by airing the videos that the talk show host had commissioned. He further claimed that Kimmel had fooled him into creating the videos, which he thought were requests by legitimate fans.
The lawsuit didn’t seem to bother Mr. Kimmel. After the suit was filed, he even made fun of Santos on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“George has rudely filed the lawsuit against me, our show and the Walt Disney Company because we did a nice thing — because we supported him by ordering his Cameo video.”
“We wrote some absolutely ridiculous messages for him to read. We gave them a credit card number and sure enough, he recorded the messages and sent it back to us and now he’s suing. He says we deceived him under the guise of fandom, soliciting personalized videos, only to then broadcast these on national television. And if there’s one thing George Santos will not stand for it’s using a fake name under false pretenses.”
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On June 7, Kimmel filed to have the lawsuit dismissed, saying that the videos were fair use. However, Santos’ legal team said that they were not fair use, since Santos was tricked into creating them, thinking he was doing it for fans. He would not have made them if he knew they would be used on television.
On August 19, a New York judge threw out the lawsuit, stating that Kimmel was free to use the videos under the doctrine of “fair use.” Per TheWrap:
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote made the decision on Monday, stating that the ABC host’s publication of the former representative’s videos falls into the lines of “fair use,” which clears him of any legal violations.
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The “Fair Use” doctrine allows people to use certain copyrighted material without obtaining permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is typically granted when public interest outweighs the need for copyright restrictions.
This is not the only hit George Santos has taken this week. In addition to losing his $750k lawsuit, he also agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and identity theft. He admitted to lying about campaign donations, claiming relatives made donations when they did not.
According to a report from ABC News:
Santos also stipulated that he committed other fraud, including charging donor credit cards without authorization and convincing donors to give money by falsely stating the money would be used for TV ads. He also stipulated he stole public money by applying for and receiving unemployment benefits during the pandemic to which he was not entitled.
Under the terms of his plea deal, Santos will serve at least two years in prison and will have to pay $373,000 in restitution. However, there is a chance that the plea deal will have Santos serving between six and eight years in federal prison.
Do you think George Santos should have sued Jimmy Kimmel and Disney in the first place? Or was the lawsuit frivolous?