George Santos is no longer a member of Congress, but the disgraced “elected public servant” remains front and center in the media. The 35-year-old was expelled from the House in November after more than two-thirds of lawmakers voted him out of Capitol Hill.
He served as New York’s 3rd District representative for less than a year before scandals about his alleged misuse of fundraiser funds, and discrepancies on his résumé proved too big of an issue to remain an active member of Congress.
Playing into the media’s fascination with his perceived unbothered demeanor, Santos sat down with comedian Ziwe for a nearly 20-minute interview that further stirred outrage.
The revealing chat exposed Santos’ love for Nicki Minaj, his belief that every member of Congress is a “fraud,” and that despite having a photo of Rosa Parks hung in his office, he knows little about Black civil rights activists, including James Baldwin, whom he had entirely no knowledge of. The scandalous figure also lamented that he could probably “make a Black baby on my own … I’m biracial.”
Reception to the interview was mixed, as observed by someone who posted on TikTok, “I need someone to tell me if this is a parody or is that actually what he looks like.” Another post on Twitter read, “Once again, I am forced to ask us to stop platforming awful people for engagement. Ziwe did not win as much as we all collectively lost.”
@ziwe ate Anthony Devolder AKA Hannah Montana AKA George Santos AKA Kitara Ravache
— Claudine Gay & Fellow Black Academic Enthusiast (@GullahRehabbed) December 18, 2023
This is how you dismiss a fraud… pic.twitter.com/vdMEheXldg
In the former late night TV show host’s defense, someone else wrote, “Ziwe spent the interview pressing George Santos about his history of lying, cheating, & stealing. There weren’t any funny games or promotional segments. Check yourself before dragging a Black woman for doing something that white women & men have been doing for years.”
During the chat, Santos declared that running for office remains a real possibility in the future. “I’ll be back…I’m 35, they’re all in their 50s. I’ll outlive them. Each and last one of them,” he gleefully snarked. When Ziwe asked what could be done to make him “go away,” he quipped, “Stop inviting me to your gig” with a smile on his face. “But you can’t ‘cause people want the content,” he added.
In October, Santos was indicted on charges of of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, aggravated identity theft, and access device fraud.
In a separate indictment, he faced multiple counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, theft of public funds, and counts of making materially false statements to the United States House of Representatives.
