Former Congressman George Santos announced Monday that he is reviving his drag queen persona with customized videos to be sold on Cameo.
Santos, a first-term Republican, was expelled from Congress in December. said in X For a limited time, he will create a cameo account for his drag alter ego, Kitara Rivash.
“Guys, weren’t you ready for this drop?” said Santos, 35. “I decided to call Kitara out of the closet for the first time in 18 years!”
The personalized videos he creates on Cameo, a digital platform where fans can pay celebrities to record short, customized videos, cost $350 each, according to the new account’s page. Mr. Santos began using Cameo just days after being expelled from Congress. In December, he told Semaphore that in just 48 hours, he had made more money on the platform than he would have made in a year as a member of Congress by $170,000.
The disgraced former New York congressman said 20% of the proceeds from Kitara’s video will be donated to two nonprofit organizations. And the Tunnel to Towers Foundation supports first responders, military personnel, veterans and, according to its website, “an America that will never forget September 11, 2001.”
Both nonprofits told NBC News in an email that they are not involved with Santos or his team and that they first learned about the potential donation when Santos tweeted on Monday.
In 2022, Santos was accused of falsely claiming that he was Jewish and that his mother was at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Mr. Santos said in an interview with the New York Post later that year that he never claimed to be Jewish, but rather described himself as “Jewish-looking.” Records obtained by NBC News in January 2023 show that Santos’ mother was living in Brazil during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Santos was also accused of refusing to turn over thousands of dollars he allegedly collected for a disabled veteran whose dog needed life-saving surgery in 2016. Mr. Santos denied his charges in a 2023 interview with Semafor.
In January 2023, Brazilian drag queen Eula Roshard shared a photo on social media of herself and a drag performer she went by the stage name Kitara Rivache, saying that the performer was actually Santos. NBC News did not independently verify the photo, but Roshard told NBC News at the time that the photo originally appeared in a Brazilian newspaper in 2008.
Santos, who had lived in Brazil for part of her life at the time, denied performing in drag and refuted allegations that she was a former drag queen.categorically wrongThe next day, he seemed to hint that he had performed in drag in the past, telling reporters: Please sue me for my life. ”
The drug photo purportedly depicting Santos will raise questions about whether Santos fabricated important aspects of his education, work history, finances, and personal life, including that he worked at Goldman Sachs and that four of his employees were killed. It comes on the heels of a shocking investigation by the New York Times questioning the issue. The 2016 nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.
Mr. Santos was indicted on 23 federal charges in October, shortly before he was expelled from Congress. Mr. Santos has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including money laundering, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and theft of public funds.
Santos’ attorney, Andrew Mancilla, said in an email Monday that his client is innocent and “his legal team plans to file a motion to dismiss these charges later this week.”
Mancilla did not respond to a request for comment on Santos’ revived drag persona.
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