George Santos and Jimmy Kimmel‘s beef has been legally put to rest.
A judge has thrown out Santos’ legal case against Kimmel, who accused the late-night host of copyright infringement because he aired Santos’ Cameo videos on his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” without his consent. On Monday, a judge ruled that “the videos were used for political commentary and criticism,” and was therefore allowed under fair use, Entertainment Weekly reported.
In the ruling, the judge stated: “A reasonable observer would understand that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ showed the videos to comment on the willingness of Santos — a public figure who had recently been expelled from Congress for allegedly fraudulent activity including enriching himself through a fraudulent contribution scheme — to say absurd things for money.”
The comedian and host received the videos from Santos on Cameo by creating fake profiles on the platform to create requests. Cameo is a platform where people pay for personal videos recorded by celebrities. Santos used the platform after he was expelled from the House of Representatives after an ethics scandal in which he grifted campaign donors and lied to Congress, using funds for personal use. The disgraced politician has pled guilty to wire fraud and identity theft in the fraud case against him.
During an episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Kimmel aired videos in the segment “Will Santos Say It?” The bit included Kimmel’s team requesting Santos to congratulate someone for cloning their dog, a schnauzer named Adolf and another for winning a beef-eating contest.
Santos’ attorney told Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday, “We’ve already filed our notice of appeal.”