Jimmy Kimmel mocks ‘absurd’ lawsuit filed by former Rep. George Santos

NY
cnn
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Jimmy Kimmel responded Tuesday night to a lawsuit filed by former Rep. George Santos, mocking the disgraced politician’s legal action as “absurd.”

“Did George Santos sue anyone else this weekend? “I am currently involved in what might be the most absurd lawsuit of all time,” Kimmel told his audience.

Santos, who was expelled from Congress in December, sued Kimmel, ABC and its parent company Disney over the weekend in the Southern District of New York over a series of videos the comedian aired on his show.

Since Santos was removed from his House seat, he has offered personalized videos on the website Cameo, which allows users to request messages from celebrities and other popular figures for a fee. Kimmel allegedly used the service by creating fake profiles to purchase clips of Santos making absurd comments, and then aired them as part of a segment called “Will Santos Say It?”

In his lawsuit, Santos alleged that Kimmel was guilty of “tricking” him into making the videos.

“Defendants openly admitted to deceiving plaintiff under the guise of fandom, requesting custom videos only to then air them on national television and social media channels for commercial gain, actions that flagrantly violate the original agreement and constitute clear infringement.” of copyright,” the civil lawsuit said.

Kimmel mocked the tongue-in-cheek nature of the lawsuit during his show Tuesday.

“He says we tricked him under the guise of the fandom requesting custom videos, only to then air them on national television,” Kimmel joked.

“And if there’s one thing George Santos won’t tolerate,” Kimmel added, “it’s using a false name under false pretenses.”