Indicted Former Rep. George Santos Loses Lawsuit Against Jimmy Kimmel For Using His Cameo Videos On Late-Night Show

Former Rep. George Santos (R-New York) lost his legal battle against Jimmy Kimmel. The former New York congressman accused the late-night host of infringing his copyright by airing videos of Santos on his show without consent.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled that “the videos were used for political commentary and criticism” and therefore allowed under fair use. Kimmel said he accessed the videos by creating fake profiles on Cameo and proceeded to air them in a segment titled, “Will Santos Say It?”

“A reasonable observer would understand that Jimmy Kimmel Live showed the videos to comment on the willingness of Santos – a public figure who had recently been expelled from Congress for allegedly fraudulent activity including enriching himself through a fraudulent contribution scheme – to say absurd things for money,” Cote wrote in her ruling.

Since being removed from Congress, Santos has been making money by selling videos on the Cameo platform, in which he uses his drag persona and explores adult themes.

Santos faced another legal setback on Monday when he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft. In a statement, the Department of Justice said that his plea confirmed that “he filed fraudulent FEC reports, embezzled funds from campaign donors, charged credit cards without authorization, stole identities, obtained unemployment benefits through fraud and lied in reports to the House of Representatives.”

The former congressman faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years and a maximum of 22 years in prison. He will next appear in court on Feb. 7.