Ziwe drops sneak peek of ‘explosive’ George Santos interview - with his off-camera pleas

A new trailer for the highly anticipated interview with disgraced former congressman George Santos and internet comedian Ziwe has been released.

The “bombshell” interview is billed as what happens “when a jokester and a national joke” sit across from one another, and promises tough questions.

The interview was arranged shortly after Mr Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives earlier this month. More than a hundred Republicans joined almost all Democrats in voting to remove him from the chamber.

He was approached by Ziwe on X, who wrote: “would you be interested in a pay-per-view interview? you’d be an iconic guest”. “Let’s do it,” Mr Santos replied.

In the trailer released on Sunday, Ziwe is heard posing questions to the former New York representative including “What can we do to get you to go away?”, as well as addressing accusations of racism and transphobia.

The clip also shows Mr Santos asking the comedian to be “mindful with the DOJ stuff” in reference to investigations into his conduct.

The interview is set to be released on Monday at 11am ET.

Mr Santos is one of only a handful of lawmakers ever to be ousted from such a role, following a damning 56-page report from the House Ethics Committee which outlined “substantial evidence” that he violated federal law.

In total, 311 members voted to remove him from the House, easily crossing the two-thirds threshold of 290 – 114 members voted against his removal, two voted present, and eight didn’t vote.

Prior to the apparently tongue-and-cheek interview, Mr Santos has already become a figure of ridicule in popular culture, having been mercilessly parodied on Saturday Night Live.

He has also reportedly made thousands of dollars on celebrity video message platform Cameo.

Ziwe’s talk show, Ziwe, debuted on Showtime in 2021 and ran for two seasons before its cancellation in April this year.