CNN
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Former Consultant George Santos sued late night time host Jimmy Kimmel for “deceiving” him into creating Cameo movies after which improperly broadcasting them on his present, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
“Defendants overtly admitted to deceiving the Plaintiff underneath the guise of fandom, soliciting personalised movies solely to then broadcast these on nationwide tv and throughout social media channels for business achieve—actions that starkly violate the unique settlement and represent clear copyright infringement,” the civil lawsuit mentioned.
The lawsuit, filed Saturday within the Southern District of New York, alleges copyright infringement, fraudulent inducement, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. ABC, which produces Kimmel’s present, and its dad or mum firm Disney are additionally named as defendants.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Kimmel, ABC and Disney for remark.
Days after the Home voted to expel Santos final yr, he joined the celebrity video message platform Cameo, the place he’s paid to file personalised video greetings.
In December, Santos created fourteen Cameo movies after Kimmel requested them utilizing pretend names and profiles, in accordance with the lawsuit.
“Defendant Kimmel misrepresented himself and his motives to induce Plaintiff to create personalised movies for the only real objective of capitalizing on and ridiculing Plaintiff’s gregarious character,” the lawsuit mentioned. “Kimmel not solely boasted about deliberately deceiving Plaintiff, however performed on the comedic irony of presumably getting sued by Plaintiff for fraud, claiming that it will be a ‘dream come true.’”
The licensing settlement for the Cameo movies doesn’t allow broadcasting the movies on nationwide tv, the lawsuit mentioned. Nonetheless, Kimmel’s crew aired a few of them on his present and later revealed them on social media, in accordance with the lawsuit.
Santos is requesting a jury trial. He’s searching for a minimum of $150,000 in statutory damages for every infringement, along with different unspecified damages to be decided at trial. He’s additionally requesting injunctions to cease the defendants from infringing on his copyrights.