A federal appeals court has ruled that disgraced, gay former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) cannot bring a copyright lawsuit against late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. Santos tried to sue Kimmel for purchasing short videos from Santos on the platform Cameo for use on a comedic segment entitled, “Will Santos Say It?”

Santos accused Kimmel and ABC of committing copyright infringement, fraudulent inducement, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment, but a federal court dismissed the case in August 2024. The judge in that ruling said Kimmel’s airing of the videos was protected by “fair use” exemptions to copyright laws because the videos were “used for political commentary and criticism.”

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However, Santos appealed the dismissal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the court’s panel of judges rejected his argument that Kimmel’s false representations about his identity acted in bad faith and, thus, nullified his ability to broadcast the clips as fair use, Courthouse News reported.

“It is true that ‘[f]air use presupposes good faith and fair dealing,’” the three-judge panel wrote in its ruling. “But Santos’ complaint contradicts any claim of a purpose on the defendants’ part to ‘supplant’ Santos’ ‘commercially valuable right in the videos.’”

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The judges found that the videos — in which Santos praised someone for wearing a half-beaver, half-platypus costume to work and another person for cloning a dog named Adolf — were broadcast for humorous and satirical effect.

Their conclusion of Kimmel’s satirical intent were supported by Santos’ attorney Robert Fantone.

When making oral arguments to the appeals court panel, Fantone said, “I don’t know if one of your honors or more laughed when you watched these Cameos. I know I laughed at them. It was the whole purpose, specifically, to get people to laugh at Mr. Santos for saying ridiculous things for money.”

Why is George Santos in prison?

In August 2024, Santos admitted to using campaign funds, another person’s identity, and their credit cards for his own personal benefit. A November 16, 2023, House Ethics Committee report accused Santos of illegally spending campaign funds on luxury goods, OnlyFans subscriptions, and cosmetic Botox treatments. Immediately after, the House voted to expel Santos in a 311-114 vote that included 105 Republicans and surpassing the 290 votes needed for expulsion.

Santos originally faced 23 federal charges of campaign finance fraud, including wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making materially false statements to both the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Santos has since admitted that he lied about graduating from Baruch College and New York University, working directly for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and living at a fake address in his congressional district. He provided no additional proof to back up claims that he founded a charity called Friends of Pets, that he lost four employees in the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, and that his mother died in connection to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

After his expulsion, Santos began making money creating personalized videos on the Cameo platform. Santos claimed that his largely fake campaign biography — which he previously admitted fabricating due to “stupidity” and “insecurity” — was actually falsified by an unnamed “former campaign staffer.”

“From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives,” Department of Justice prosecutors wrote in their request for a seven-year prison sentence.

After joining Congress, Santos cosponsored a bill to roll back LGBTQ+ civil rights and one to ban LGBTQ+ books from schools. He also made public statements against transgender people and the so-called “radical rainbow mafia.” Additionally, he said that LGBTQ+ families “create troubled individuals.”

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