When Satire Stands Its Ground
By Matthew B. Harrison
TALKERS, VP/Associate Publisher
Harrison Media Law, Senior Partner
Goodphone Communications, Executive Producer
When we first covered this case, it felt like only 2024 could invent it – a disgraced congressman, George Santos, selling Cameos and a late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, buying them under fake names to make a point about truth and ego. A year later, the Second Circuit turned that punchline into precedent. (Read story here: https://talkers.com/2024/12/19/jimmy-kimmels-fair-use-victory-what-it-means-for-content-creators/)
And just to clear the record: this has nothing to do with Jimmy Kimmel’s unrelated dust-up with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Different story, different planet. This one’s about copyright and commentary – and it’s a clear win for both.
The Set-Up
After his expulsion from Congress, George Santos began offering paid video shout-outs on Cameo. Kimmel’s writers sent absurd requests under pseudonyms for a segment called “Will Santos Say It?” – and he did. The show aired those clips to highlight how easily a public figure would say anything for a fee.
(If you want a taste, look up “Jimmy Kimmel Pranks George Santos on Cameo” on YouTube. That’s the kind of transformative satire the court later called “sarcastic criticism and commentary.”)
Santos sued Kimmel, ABC, and Disney for copyright infringement, fraud, and breach of contract, claiming the videos were sold for “personal use.” The district court tossed it; Santos appealed.
The Ruling
On September 15, 2025, the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed the dismissal. The panel said Kimmel’s use was transformative: he turned Santos’s self-promotion into political satire. Even Santos’s complaint described the bit as sarcastic commentary.
Claims of “market harm” fell flat. Airing a few clips on network TV doesn’t compete with Cameo. Embarrassment isn’t economic loss.
And the supposed bad faith – using fake names to order the clips – didn’t undo fair use. The court stuck to the statutory factors: purpose, nature, amount, and effect. Mischief isn’t a fifth one.
The rest of the claims – fraud, contract, enrichment – stayed dismissed as pre-empted or too thin to matter.
Why It Matters
This decision lands as courts wrestle with whether AI’s use of copyrighted works can ever be “transformative.” Santos v. Kimmel shows what that word really means: a human taking existing material and using it to say something new.
Fair use protects meaning, not mimicry. That’s why satire, commentary, and criticism still stand when they have a point.
For media creators, the lesson is simple: transformation beats permission. If you use third-party material, make sure you’re adding perspective – not just recycling content. That, more than any fine print, is what keeps you on the right side of the line.
Matthew B. Harrison is a media and intellectual property attorney who advises radio hosts, content creators, and creative entrepreneurs. He has written extensively on fair use, AI law, and the future of digital rights. Reach him at Matthew@HarrisonMediaLaw.com or read more at TALKERS.com.
but sources tell Reuters that it would likely be sometime after November. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz criticized Carr for comments he made on the Benny Johnson podcast about late night talk host Jimmy Kimmel’s joke that appeared to threaten ABC/Disney and promise FCC action against the company if it didn’t take action on its own. On his Premiere Networks distributed podcast, “The Verdict with Ted Cruz,” Cruz said of Carr’s comments, “I got to say that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a Mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it.’” Carr recently said that’s not what he meant and stated, “We don’t want to see weaponization of government by any administration against any perspective – and that’s certainly not what we’re doing here.”
Democrats in Congress have lashed out at FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for his statements about ABC/Disney and Jimmy Kimmel’s Charlie Kirk bit that got Kimmel suspended from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Last week, Carr appeared on the Benny Johnson podcast and called Kimmel’s statements “some of the sickest conduct possible” and added, “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney… We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” ABC/Disney has television affiliates owned by both Nexstar and Sinclair, which objected to Kimmel’s comments and threatened to pull Kimmel’s show from the air. Nexstar has a $6.2 billion 
merger with Tegna in the works and needs FCC approval and critics of Carr’s comments are calling him out for appearing to threaten ABC. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, on his Premiere Networks podcast ‘The Verdict,’ disagreed with Carr saying, “Let me tell you if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you the media says. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like.’ That will end up bad for conservatives.” President Trump – who’s publicly mused about investigating his media critics – weighed in after being asked about Cruz’s response by saying, “I think Brendan Carr’s a courageous person. I think Brendan Carr doesn’t like to see the airwaves be used illegal and incorrectly and purposefully horribly.”
our airwaves free from government influence. The First Amendment affords our stations – and all Americans – this fundamental right, and the mere perception that broadcasters acted because of undue pressure is a problem for our credibility and the trust we have built with our audiences.
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