George Santos sues Jimmy Kimmel for duping him into making Cameo videos

George Santos sued late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel on Saturday, accusing Kimmel of hiding his identity while soliciting videos from the disgraced ex-congressman over the celebrity videosharing service Cameo that Kimmel then used to mock Santos on air.

Kimmel announced in December that he pranked Santos by sending him fictitious requests on Cameo, which allows users to request brief greeting videos from celebrities and popular figures. Kimmel, allegedly using accounts not under his real name, asked Santos to speak on several bizarre topics, including congratulating a blind woman for passing a driving test and praising a man for winning an eating contest after devouring six pounds of ground beef.

Santos obliged, not knowing Kimmel was the recipient, and Kimmel aired the videos on his late-night talk show in December in a segment called “Will Santos Say It?”

Santos alleged Saturday in federal court in New York that Kimmel and his show’s producers, ABC and Disney, committed copyright infringement by airing the Cameo videos they requested, which he argued were owned by Santos and not licensed for broadcast on national television. He also alleged that Kimmel committed fraud by creating fake profiles on Cameo to commission the Santos videos.

Cameo’s terms of service state that videos on the platform are licensed, not sold, and that a personal license grants a recipient limited rights to use a requested video for noncommercial and nonpromotional purposes. Cameo’s community guidelines state that users may not sign up using false identities.

Andrew Mancilla, a lawyer for Santos, said in a statement to The Washington Post that Kimmel’s humor was “based on manipulation and exploitation.”

Kimmel, ABC and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday evening.

In a December show days after Kimmel began sharing the Cameo videos he requested, the late-night host said Santos asked to be paid $20,000 after Kimmel aired his videos.

Santos has fashioned a second act as a flamboyant social media personality after being expelled from the

House of Representatives for a number of alleged crimes and falsehoods.

His lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent Kimmel and his producers from sharing Santos’s Cameos and damages of over $150,000.