Editor's Note: None of what Santos said during this interview has been fact-checked. Just enjoy the ride.
At a near-empty IHOP in Astoria on Monday morning, George Santos was munching on crispy bacon and a plate of eggs over easy (one of which had rudely oozed yolk onto his pristine, marled gray Hamptons tennis club sweater), when a "ding" on his phone notified him of a new Cameo request.
The disgraced former congressmember and now convicted felon read the request aloud: It was from relatives of a former mayor of a California city, and they wanted to pay Santos to record a birthday message for him. Seconds after scanning the brief, Santos hit the record button, an IHOP sign in the background, egg yolk on his shirt and all.
"Let's talk about the fact that we both served, and when I say 'serve,' we served office at the same time in 2023," Santos riffed into his phone camera.
"And let me tell you something about 2023…I gave all the news cover for all of you guys to fuck up, and nobody talks about it because they were only talking about me. So I'm pretty sure you appreciate that, even though you're all the way in [California]," he said while grinning. "I just want you to go live your life. Be happy, be fabulous, slay the boots house down in everything you do. And remember, there's always going to be haters, and you just tell them to fuck off."
After recording the video, he gave the phone one last tap. "One take!" he said, a satisfied smile on his face. "Done. Sent."
Santos had just made $100 in 60 seconds.
He estimated that he's made about $368,000 so far from his Cameos—which range in price from $50 to $300—since he started on December 3, 2023, just two days after he was expelled from Congress. He joined Cameo (the online platform where anyone can request a personalized video from celebrities for a fee) on the advice of one of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy's advisors who told him he would be "a hit" on the app, he told Hell Gate. The advisor was right; the morning after Santos signed up, he said he awoke to about 150 orders.
Santos needs all of that cash: He owes more than half a million dollars in restitution and penalties stemming from his convictions for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, which prosecutors said he has not begun paying back despite his Cameo earnings.
But his life as a Cameo star will soon be cut short: On April 25, he was sentenced to more than seven years behind bars, and he's slated to report to federal prison on July 25 at 2 p.m., three days after his 37th birthday.