Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel sent former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) prank scripts on Cameo to see if he would read them, and the ousted lawmaker did so.
After being expelled from the House last week, Santos has begun selling personal videos for several hundred dollars each and has gone viral for his responses. Customers can request holiday messages or ask Santos for gossip, a pep talk or advice, among other messages.
Kimmel told the audience at his show this week that he ordered videos with several prank scripts without saying they were from him to find out if the former congressman would say what was sent.
“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!” Kimmel wrote in one prank script. “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!”
Santos responded to the script, congratulating the fake Gary Fortuna for winning the contest and wishing him a quick recovery.
“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.”
Kimmel then showed two more prank scripts and the former lawmaker’s responses. He said he has “ordered about dozen more of these” and will be releasing them next week.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said Monday that he sent “ethically-challenged” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) a Cameo video from Santos because he thought his colleague “could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems.”
Menendez, along with his wife, Nadine, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes from three businessmen in New Jersey in exchange for using the senator’s “power and influence” as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair to benefit both the businessmen and the Egyptian government.
Federal prosecutors with the Southern District of New York charged Menendez with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent. He has denied the allegations.
Santos was removed from the House in a bipartisan vote, ending his tenure in Congress just 11 months after it began. He became the sixth lawmaker ever to be expelled from the lower chamber.
His expulsion came shortly after the House Ethics Committee released a report that found he violated federal criminal laws. It determined that Santos used campaign funds for personal purposes including trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas and for Botox and other cosmetic purposes. He made purchases at the luxury brand Hermés and at adult content subscription website OnlyFans.