Former Rep. George Santos sues Jimmy Kimmel, accuses him of misusing Cameo movies

Former Rep. George Santos filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to Jimmy Kimmel Saturday accusing the late-night tv host of utilizing pretend names to request Cameo movies from the previous lawmaker after which misusing them on his present.

Santos sued Kimmel for copyright infringement, fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. He’s looking for not less than $750,000 in damages.

Santos stated in a lawsuit filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York that Kimmel submitted not less than 14 requests for clips on the positioning Cameo, the place celebrities promote quick personalised video messages.

Kimmel offered “phony names and narratives,” the lawsuit says, and despatched “pretend requests … from pretend consumer profiles created by Kimmel as a part of the fraud.” The lawsuit was first reported by the New York Put up.

It says that Kimmel “selected the non-public use licenses for all of the Cameo movies with the intention to violate such licenses by broadcasting and commercially exploiting the Cameo movies on nationwide tv.”

Representatives for Kimmel didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Saturday. NBC Information additionally reached out to ABC and Disney, each named as defendants, for remark.

The lawsuit says that Kimmel started utilizing the movies on “Jimmy Kimmel Stay!” in December, telling his viewers that Santos had “a brand new gig making movies on Cameo for $400 a pop” and that Kimmel couldn’t resist sending him “ridiculous requests.” A number of the movies had been performed throughout a phase titled “Will Santos Say It?”

Throughout a Dec. 11 episode of the present, Kimmel joked about presumably getting sued by Santos, in accordance with the lawsuit.

“May you think about if I get sued by George Santos for a fraud? I imply how good would that be? It could be like a dream come true,” Kimmel stated, in accordance with the swimsuit. “So since I began shopping for his movies his charges went manner as much as $500 a chunk. He ought to be thanking me for getting these movies.”

Kimmel then performed two extra of the movies, the swimsuit says.

A lawyer for Santos despatched Kimmel a stop and desist letter on Dec. 12 and demanded that the movies be faraway from YouTube and TikTok accounts related to the present.