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Earlier this week we discussed George Santos, former NY congressman and current Cameo presenter-for-hire, suing Jimmy Kimmel — for fraud! If that’s not the pot calling the kettle… Kimmel’s crime was paying Santos for his services. Well, he hid his identity and then broadcast the videos on his show, which Santos says is tantamount to copyright infringement, fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. Plus Kimmel took advantage of Santos’ “gregarious personality!” (I may never recover from that claim.) But with $750,000 in damages on the line, the ABC & Disney lawyers have gotten to Kimmel to keep mum on the subject until the case is resolved. Just kidding!! Kimmel responded to Santos on his show this week, calling it “the most preposterous lawsuit of all time.”

Jimmy Kimmel is escalating his beef with former Republican New York Rep. George Santos.

“I am currently embroiled in what may be the most preposterous lawsuit of all time,” Kimmel said on Tuesday night’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “George Santos, a man Republicans kicked out of Congress for being a fraud, is suing me for fraud.”

Santos, who was expelled from Congress last year for lying about his resume and using campaign funds for personal expenses, filed a lawsuit Saturday against Kimmel and ABC alleging that Kimmel used “deceitful tactics” after Kimmel paid Santos to record video messages and then played them on Kimmel’s show.

In December, Kimmel had a segment on his show called “Will Santos Say It,” where Kimmel used fake names to buy videos from Santos on the celebrity video platform Cameo. Kimmel had Santos read out absurd messages, like wishing a friend well after winning a beef eating contest.

Santos is suing Kimmel for copyright infringement, fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment and is seeking $750,000 in damages.

“Comedy is wonderful, until you violate someone’s rights, then you get sued,” Robert Fantone, an attorney at the law firm representing Santos, said in a statement to HuffPost on Saturday.

On Saturday, Santos wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was upholding his “legal rights” with the lawsuit against Kimmel.

“If you don’t stand up for yourself you will always lose,” Santos wrote. “That’s what I’m doing with this lawsuit. I’m standing my ground and fighting to uphold my legal rights. Jimmy boy thought he could use fraudulent means to violate my copyrights and now he’s going to face the consequences. It’s really that simple. My legal case is unassailable, there’s no question I am in the right.”

[From HuffPost]

If you’re a nerd like me and are wondering how, exactly, Kimmel violated copyright laws, it may hinge on a very technical detail. When using fake names on Cameo, Kimmel officially paid for videos under a personal license instead of a commercial one. However, Kimmel is likely to get off the hook here thanks to a “fair use claim,” because Santos didn’t lose any money; Kimmel paid for each video, and the publicity from Kimmel probably led to more Cameo requests for Santos. (Is that a sad commentary on our culture? Sure, but legally irrelevant here!) As some of you noted previously, Kimmel’s ABC & Disney lawyers had to have been kept in the loop on his plans and signed off on them, feeling confident that they could successfully navigate any retaliation from Santos. Thanks for joining me on this mini copyright law tutorial, may you go forth and file suits competently.

Now to deal with this statement from Santos: “Jimmy boy thought he could use fraudulent means to violate my copyrights and now he’s going to face the consequences.” I’d be careful, Georgie boy. The constituents of NY-3 may start tweeting about a joke of a congressman using fraudulent means to violate their franchise, and if he’s really faced enough consequences for that.

Photos credit: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix, Getty and Avalon.red