George Santos

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About

George Santos (also known as Anthony Devolder) is an American politician and a Republican currently serving as a United States Congressman from New York's 3rd District. In late 2022, Santos became famous for lying about his background, education and professional history, stirring up controversy and memes referencing him across social media. Following revelations that Santos had invented much of his biography, engaged in murky financial dealings and was accused of crimes in Brazil, many internet users speculated that he would face some kind of censure in the House of Representatives going into early 2023. In January 2023, additional evidence emerged of more events in Santos' past life and alleged scams he had run, thrusting him further into the spotlight.

Background / Career

George Santos claims to have been raised in the state of New York but has made a series of conflicting claims about his background, early life and associations according to multiple reports.^[9] Santos claimed he was of Brazilian and Ukrainian Jewish heritage and his family had fled the Holocaust through Belgium and Brazil.^[9] Santos also claims to have attended Baruch College and New York University, to have worked for Wall Street firms like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and that his mother died in 9/11. ^[1]

However, a December 19th, 2022, New York Times investigative story found that none of the above claims were true.^[2] The story revealed a series of other details about Santos' life and relationships, reportedly painting a picture of a habitual liar and even an alleged criminal. Following the story's publication, authorities in New York opened investigations into Santos in late 2022.

The reports alleging that Santos lied about parts of his background then spread online, becoming a topic of viral discussion on platforms like Twitter in late 2022 and early 2023. For example, on January 1st, 2023, Twitter^[10] user and former Congressman Mondaire Jones tweeted about the alleged criminal history of Santos, receiving over 5,900 likes and 1,500 retweets in four days (seen below).

Santos first ran for U.S. Congress in 2020 and lost. In 2022, he then ran again as the Republican nominee in a district including parts of Long Island and Queens, ultimately winning the race.

According to reports in late 2022, Santos allegedly committed check fraud in Brazil in 2008, reportedly stealing a man's checkbook and spending his money. Following his election to Congress, Brazilian authorities reopened the case purportedly because they found an address where they could be sure to reach him — his new Congressional office.

Online Reactions

Memes referencing the revelations about Santos were also circulated in Brazil in early 2023. For example, Twitter user and journalist melissaeweiss posted a meme on January 4th under the caption, "If you want to know how far the George Santos memes have gone, a Brazilian friend who lives in Rio just sent me this," receiving over 120 likes in roughly 24 hours (shown below).

Santos' reported fabrications and lies about his background continued to spread around the internet in December 2022 and January 2023, a month-and-a-half after his election to Congress. Many social media users expressed confusion during this period over how the news had not come out before the election, some seeing it as a serious problem that almost no media had noticed or reported on the lies.^[11]

In response to criticism for claiming he was Jewish without having Jewish ancestry, Santos replied that he was “Jew-ish,” leading to many comparisons to the type of humor on Seinfeld and much mockery online. For example, on December 27th, 2022, Twitter user @adamkopolik compared Santos to Cosmo Kramer, earning just over 3,600 likes in a week (seen below, left).^[6] That same day, Twitter user @jasonselvig tweeted about the "Jew-ish" remark too, getting over 14,000 likes in a similar timeframe (seen below, right).^[7]

Santos Seated at the House of Representatives

On January 3rd, 2023, George Santos was then seated (but not yet sworn in) in the House of Representatives but sat conspicuously alone the entire time, with seemingly no other lawmakers associating with him.^[3] That same day, Twitter user @ettingermentum compared Santos to the Emo Wolf meme, earning over 1,100 likes in roughly 24 hours (shown below).^[4]

Many users also tweeted about Santos and "imposter syndrome," writing that his story proved they shouldn't worry about it. For example, on January 3rd, 2022, Twitter user @AmandaDuberman tweeted about Santos and imposter syndrome, earning just over 230 likes in a day (shown below).^[5]

GoFundMe Veteran Dog Scam Allegations

On January 18th, 2023, veteran Rick Oshtoff stated that he believed George Santos (who at the time went by the name Anthony Devolder) had allegedly cheated him out of $3,000 after starting a GoFundMe to save Oshtoff's dog Sapphire, who was sick with a large tumor. Oshtoff, who was homeless at the time, claims Santos/Devolder raised the money for Sapphire online and then pocketed it for himself, leaving the dog to die.^[12] A screenshot of a text chat between Oshtoff and Devolder/Santos, shared with CNN, also circulated online at the time (seen below).^[15]

Online, many reacted to the viral story of Sapphire's death in the following days, pointing to it as purported evidence of Santos not being fit for office. For example, Twitter user @brianklaas called Santos and his party "shameless," earning over 1,000 likes in less than a day on January 19th.^[18]

On January 19th, Santos himself then denied the allegations, originally writing a tweet featuring the word "reduce," before deleting that tweet and posting another with the word "rescue" instead (seen below).^[17]

Drag Queen Allegations

On January 19th, 2023, journalist Marisa Kabos shared an interview she had conducted with Eula Rochard, a Brazilian drag queen who claimed to have performed with Santos over a decade ago. Rochard stated that Santos was purportedly going by the name Anthony at the time but onstage called himself Kitara. The original thread (seen below, left) earned over 42,000 likes in less than 12 hours.^[13] Eula Rochard also posted photos of Santos in drag on Rochard's own social media and claimed that the young Kitara/Anthony was "a liar."^[14] Many online posted side-by-side photos of Santos' official Congressional portrait and a picture of Kitara, comparing the two. One such example was tweeted by @EndTheMisery (seen below, right), who earned over 1,200 likes on January 19th.^[19]

Santos, who is openly gay, notably ran as a hard-right candidate. As such, his membership as a Republican was also discussed and criticized online amid the allegations as many believe the party was pushing for measures to ostracize queer Americans at the local, state and federal levels during the time.

As the story spread on social media and was widely covered in the media, he denied the allegations via tweet shortly after denying the controversial claims about the dog and GoFundMe fundraiser (seen below).^[16]

Ethics Report Findings

In November of 2023, the House Ethics Committee found that George Santos had inappropriately used campaign contributions to pay for luxury goods and notably, subscriptions to OnlyFans. As a result, many OnlyFans creators online claimed that Santos was subscribed to them, with some going so far as to claim the congressman had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on them.