A federal judge has dismissed George Santos' lawsuit against Jimmy Kimmel over his show's "fraudulent" use of Cameo videos.
Santos had attempted to sue Kimmel for fraud, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and copyright infringement over his use of Cameo videos in his program and ordering them under a fictitious name.
Cameo is a website where you can hire celebrities to make personalized videos for yourself or to gift your friends.
"Birthdays, milestones, or even a well-deserved roast, the perfect celebrity is only a search away," Cameo's website states. "Find yours and request them."
Santos joined the website shortly after being expelled from Congress.
Instead of using the service to have a celebrity sing his friend "Happy Birthday," Kimmel allegedly requested at least 14 videos from Santos to use on his show. The clips were collected for a segment titled “Will Santos Say It?” in which he made light of trying to get the former politician to say foolish things.
The clips included celebrating a woman for cloning her dog named Adolf and congratulating a man for winning a competitive ground beef eating contest,
"Hey George. My friend Heath just came out as a Furry and I'd love for you to tell him that his friends and family all accept him. His 'fursona' is a platypus mixed with a beaver. He calls it a beav-a-pus. Can you say we all love you Beav-a-pus?" another request from Kimmel's team read.
Santos was seeking a minimum of $750,000 in damages.
District Judge Denise Cote issued a ruling on Monday saying that the videos were protected by the “fair use” exemption to copyright because they were “used for political commentary and criticism.” A couple hours before George Santos is set to plead guilty to criminal charges, a NY federal judge dismissed his civil suit over Jimmy Kimmel's commissioning of fake Cameo videos. pic.twitter.com/P1tbqvKSBn
— Rachel Scharf (@rscharf_) August 19, 2024
“In short, 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 decision.
