Former U.S. Rep. George Santos alleged in a lawsuit filed Saturday that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel deceived him into making movies on the Cameo app that had been used to ridicule the disgraced New York Republican on the present.
The lawsuit filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York names Kimmel, ABC and Walt Disney Co. as defendants. A Disney consultant listed as a media contact for the Jimmy Kimmel Dwell! present did not instantly reply to an e-mail from The Related Press in search of remark.
Santos, who was expelled from the Home of Representatives final 12 months after being charged with a number of counts of fraud and stealing from donors, is suing over alleged copyright infringement, fraudulent inducement, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
Kimmel misrepresented himself to induce Santos to create customized movies “capitalizing on and ridiculing” his “gregarious character,” the lawsuit alleges.
App customers can request video messages
By means of Cameo, Santos obtained requests from people and companies in search of customized video messages. Unbeknownst to Santos, Kimmel submitted at the least 14 requests that used phoney names and narratives, in accordance with the criticism.
Beginning in December, the movies had been performed on a section referred to as “Will Santos Say It? ” the go well with says.
In one of many clips, Santos provides congratulations to the purported winner of a beef-eating contest, calling the feat of consuming 2.7 kilograms of free floor beef in beneath half-hour “superb and spectacular.”
Lawyer admits ‘faux requests had been humorous’
“Frankly, Kimmel’s faux requests had been humorous, however what he did was clear violation of copyright legislation,” Robert Fantone, a lawyer for Santos, stated in an e-mail.
When you don’t arise for your self you’ll all the time lose! That’s what I’m doing with this lawsuit. I’m standing my floor and preventing to uphold my authorized rights. Jimmy boy thought he may use fraudulent means to violate my copyrights and now he’s going to face the results.…
—@MrSantosNY
Santos is in search of statutory damages totalling $750,000 US for the 5 movies he created that had been performed on the present and varied social media platforms. He additionally asks for different damages to be decided at trial.
The ex-lawmaker faces a slew of legal expenses, together with allegations that he defrauded marketing campaign donors, lied to Congress about his wealth, obtained unemployment advantages whereas employed and used marketing campaign contributions to pay for private bills like designer clothes. He is also alleged to have made unauthorized expenses on bank cards belonging to a few of his donors.
Santos pleaded not responsible to a revised indictment in October.
On Tuesday, Democrat Tom Suozzi received a particular election for Santos’s former seat.