Jimmy Kimmel called the lawsuit against him by disgraced former Rep. George Santos “preposterous” while he joked about it on his ABC late-night show Tuesday.
Mr. Santos, the New York Republican ousted in December, is suing Mr. Kimmel for deceiving him into creating personalized videos on Cameo that were used to ridicule him on the show.
“George has rudely filed a lawsuit against me, our show and the Walt Disney Company because we did a nice thing because we supported him by ordering his Cameo videos,” Mr. Kimmel said.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York names Mr. Kimmel, ABC and Walt Disney Co. as defendants.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” had a segment in December called “Will Santos Say It?” that played the videos.
Mr. Santos is seeking $750,000 in damages for the five videos he created that were played on the show. He is also asking for other damages to be determined at trial.
“Frankly, Kimmel’s fake requests were funny, but what he did was a clear violation of copyright law,” Robert Fantone, an attorney for Mr. Santos, said in an email.
Mr. Kimmel joked that the former congressman is being represented by the “prestigious law firm of Pot, Kettle and Black.”
Mr. Santos started making personalized Cameo videos for money after he was ousted from Congress.
“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,” Mr. Kimmel joked.
Mr. Santos faces federal fraud and wire charges after the House Ethics Committee revealed there was “overwhelming evidence” he broke the law multiple times and exploited his office for personal profit.
Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi filled the seat this month after winning a special election.
— This story comes in part from wire service reports.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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