Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is calling out comedian Jimmy Kimmel ahead of his case against the late-night show host, whom Santos accuses of using “phony name and narratives” while acquiring his services on Cameo.
“Let’s see if @jimmykimmel puts up or shuts up today,” Santos said in a post on the social platform X late Thursday morning. “After all this is your dream coming true as you said so your self on air!”
Santos’s post also included a video of himself saying that “today’s a big day” and noting that later in the day he is “actually in federal court against Jimmy Kimmel for my fraud case against him, for defrauding me and violating copyright laws and also infringing on licensing agreements.”
“So, I can’t wait to see if Jimmy shows up, or is he gonna hide behind his little corporate lawyers,” continued the disgraced Republican, who in December was expelled from the House in a bipartisan vote. “I’ll be there.”
Santos, who has been indicted on federal fraud charges, originally sued Kimmel in February, alleging his misrepresented his intentions for the former lawmaker’s Cameo videos. He filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and is suing Kimmel for alleged fraud, breach of contract, unjust enrichment and copyright infringement. Alongside Kimmel, ABC and Disney were also named as defendants in the suit.
Kimmel had used the videos on his late-night talk show.
“Could you imagine if I get sued by George Santos for a fraud,” he said at the time. “I mean how good would that be? It would be like a dream come true. So since I started buying his videos his rates went way up to $500 a piece. He should be thanking me for buying these videos.”
After the suit, which is seeking at least $750,000 in damages, was announced, Kimmel called it the “most preposterous lawsuit of all time.”
“George has rudely filed the lawsuit against me, our show and The Walt Disney Co. because we did a nice thing. Because we supported him by ordering his Cameo videos,” he said.
“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,” Kimmel added.
The Hill has reached out to lawyers and representatives for Kimmel, ABC and Disney.