George Santos wasted no time seeking a new income stream since being expelled from Congress on Friday, adding his name and availability as “former congressional ‘Icon’!” to the website Cameo, a website that offers access to thousands of celebrities for request of “a personalized video message for any occasion”.
It was not clear early on Monday if the “George Santos” on Cameo was genuine. The congressional office for New York’s district three had no information, and requests for confirmation from Cameo were not returned. However, Santos himself added the link to his supposed Cameo page to his Twitter/X biography.
Recent videos uploaded to the page include a congratulations note to “Paige”, a birthday tribute to a “Jack”, and a message to “Megan”, referring to Megan Hunt, state senator in Omaha’s district eight, which features Santos offering something of a pep talk:
“Screw the haters, the haters are going to hate. They can boot me out of Congress, but they can’t take away my good humor or my larger than life personality,” he tells “Megan”, before adding: “Be yourself, unapologetically, love yourself.”
Gift of the year from my friend Rebecca. Thank you @MrSantosNY! pic.twitter.com/TyoPdjLIps
— Senator Megan Hunt (@NebraskaMegan) December 4, 2023
While the requests Santos, 35, will be entertaining remain to be seen, the $10 cost to even send him a message – as the Guardian has done – could begin in small ways to make up for the loss of $174,000 in congressional pay.
Santos said he was on Cameo “having fun and connecting with all you folks”.
“I have no goals just going with the flow and living life,” he wrote.
Separately, Santos has vowed, via X, to begin a program of self-styled restorative justice.
“My community service will be to clean up Congress of it’s corrupt frauds in a Bipartisan way. My road to redemption will be serving the American people!” he now says on X.
Since leaving Washington on Friday with the parting words: “Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place,” Santos has launched a series of attacks on former colleagues, including representative Nicole Malliotakis (“questionable stock trading”); Mike Lawler (campaign expenses); Nick LaLota (being a “no-show” at his last job).
His availability on Cameo may be the most significant move so far. Launched in 2017, Cameo was valued at more than $1bn in 2021 and offers celebrities and social media personalities non-traditional ways to boost their incomes.
In Santos’s case, that price is currently $200 for a video, and he is purportedly willing to talk about a variety of things: birthdays, holidays and give pep talks. Signs are it is doing well: he initially sold each video for $75, but upped the price hours later, according to Business Insider.
