Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has pranked former congressman George Santos into making some hilarious Cameo videos.
Mr Santos has taken to posting videos on Cameo, the site where celebrities offer short greetings for a fee, following his expulsion from Congress last week.
The former congressman initially set an asking price of $75 per video. The value of his videos has since more than quadrupled, with Mr Santos surpassing his congressional salary of $174,000 in his first 48 hours on the platform, according to Semafor.
He is now asking for $400 per video, something Mr Kimmel deemed a “dilemma” on his show on Thursday night.
“On one hand, you hate to give money to a guy like George Santos but on the other, eh, pretty good chance he has your credit card information already,” he quipped.
The late-night show host went on to reveal that he sent Mr Santos a number of “ridiculous” requests on the platform to find out whether the former congressman would fall for them.
Mr Santos, in several Cameo videos, did just that, according to Mr Kimmel.
He said one of the requests involved a made-up story about his mom “Brenda” and her dog “Adolf” which had been successfully cloned by a doctor. In the request, Mr Kimmel asked the former congressman to congratulate his made-up mother after the doctor “went through a lot of dogs in the trial runs”.
“Hey Brenda, I wanted to congratulate you on successfully cloning your beloved schnauzer Adolf. I know it was a lot of trials and tribulations but you finally did it,” Mr Santos is heard saying in one video.
″Now you get to enjoy Adolf and be happy so give him a belly rub for me. Mwah.”
In another request, Mr Kimmel asked Mr Santos to congratulate his “friend” Gary Fortuna for winning the “Clearwater Florida Beef Eating Contest”.
“He ate almost 6 pounds of loose ground beef in under 30 minutes – which was the new record! 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!” the request added.
Mr Santis responded to the request, congratulating Gary Fortuna for winning the contest, calling his supposed win “amazing and impressive”.
“Congratulations for the win!” he said. “I know you’re feeling a little under the weather, but I hear from a great source that the doctor said that you’ll be released from the hospital soon and recover well. Have a speedy recovery and then enjoy the festivities of the end of the year. Bye!” Mr Santos added.
The former congressman, who is currently facing a 23-count federal indictment for fraud and other related offences, told Semafor he had made 150 videos as of Tuesday, adding that he planned to “crush another 60 to 70” that evening.
Mr Santos reportedly said he would be donating some of the money to unspecified good causes, and that the cash was only part of the appeal.
“Obviously there’s a monetary benefit – I’m not here doing it for charity – but the other aspect is to remind these a**holes who think they’re holier-than-thou that they will be forgotten in history and I will live forever, period,” he told Semafor.
Cameo’s founder and CEO Steven Galanis told the outlet that Mr Santos “is going to be an absolute whale,” and that his launch was among one of the most successful ever.
“Sarah Jessica Parker, Bon Jovi – he’s putting numbers up like that,” Mr Galanis said.
George Santos is asking for $400 per video
