George Santos says Jimmy Kimmel owes him $21,000
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Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel played a prank on former Rep. George Santos by sending him a funny script to read.
Since being expelled from Congress last week, Santos, R-N.Y., has kept busy by selling personalized videos for several hundred dollars each on Cameo, a website that allows fans to request video messages from celebrities or influencers.
Kimmel took this as his chance to request a few videos with prank scripts without letting Santos know who ordered the message for a segment called, “Will Santos say it?”
“George please congratulate my friend Gary Fortuna for winning the Clearwater Florida beef eating contest. He ate over six pounds of ground beef in under 30 minutes — which was a new record!” the script said.
“He’s not feeling great right now, but the doctor thinks he will be released from the hospital soon. Please wish him a speedy recovery!”
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The former representative responded, even though Kimmel’s live audience guessed he wouldn’t. “I know you’re feeling a little under the weather, but I hear from a great source that the doctors said you’ll be released from the hospital soon and recover well,” Santos said in a video.
“Look, have a speedy recovery, and then enjoy the festivities of the end of the year. Bye,” he said.
Kimmel gave Santos five stars for his video before proceeding to reveal two more scripts he wrote and rolled out Santos’ response to each one.
“I ordered about a dozen more of these,” Kimmel said, adding his show’s plans of televising the clips Santos sends back.
The former representative told The Spectator he currently charges $500 for a video and is set to make $350,000 in revenue by the end of December. These videos are meant for personal use, but Kimmel’s decision to broadcast them violates the policy. Commercial video requests fall under Cameo For Business, and come with commercial rights, but cost much more.
Santos said Kimmel underpaid him, still owing “$21,800 and change.” When The Spectator asked the late-night show host to address Santos’ allegations, Kimmel said, “The idea that Mr. Santos would claim we shortchanged him and used credit card purchases improperly proves once and for all that the man is a comedy genius.”
Santos was ousted from Congress after the release of a report that alleged the former representative spent campaign funds on Botox treatments and extravagant trips with his husband, among other things, and exploited “every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit.”
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Kimmel isn’t the first person to prank Santos following his exit. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., hired the former representative for a special video last week.
“I thought my ethically-challenged colleague (Sen. Bob Menendez) could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems,” Fetterman wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to the Democratic New Jersey senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, who face bribery and corruption charges.
Fetterman hoped to give his “ethically challenged colleague” some encouragement to deal with his legal troubles with “seasoned expert” Santos’ help. The Pennsylvania senator attached the clip he received from Santos, which has since gone viral and racked up 7 million views, as the Deseret News reported.
“Hey, Bobby,” Santos says in the 24-second video. “You stand your ground, sir. And don’t get bogged down by all the haters out there.”
A Fetterman spokesman told Business Insider that Santos fulfilled the request 16 minutes after it was sent to him. It cost Fetterman $343.20, which included taxes and fees. Santos wasn’t mad at Fetterman’s prank. “I love this!” he wrote in a response on X.
