George Santos says viral milkshake video was promo for his podcast

Disgraced former Congressman George Santos has admitted that a viral video showing someone throwing a milkshake at him was staged to promote his podcast.

The video, which circulated on social media this week, showed a man in sunglasses following Santos as he walked through Times Square in New York City.

“This guy has got audacity to show his face,” the man says, before calling Santos’ name and throwing a drink at him.

“How do you like that?” the man says. “What the f*** is wrong with you?” Santos says.

In a subsequent video, Santos said that he and his team had decided not to continue with the campaign, feeling it was insensitive “in light of what had happened in New York City.”

Santos may have been referring to the murder of Brian Thompson, who was gunned down as he walked to his company’s annual investor conference at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan on December 4. While some decried the killing, others had little sympathy for Thompson and instead directed their anger at the state of the healthcare system in the U.S.

The video sparked a reaction on social media, with even opponents of Santos criticizing the person who threw the drink at him. “Stop assaulting people just because you disagree with them politically,” the Republicans Against Trump account wrote.

Santos took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday to clarify that the incident was not an “assault,” but had been filmed as part of a campaign to promote his new podcast, Pants on Fire with George Santos.

“We felt that in light of what had happened in New York City, it would be, you know, let’s just say, I’m trying to find the words… insensitive. It was tone deaf,” Santos said.

He said he had “no hard feelings” about the video being posted online, saying the person who uploaded it was “a great friend.”

But he said he wanted to ensure people were aware that it didn’t depict “aggression of political nature.”

“The gentleman in the video is a friend and a good guy, and he was actually uncomfortable even having to do it,” Santos said. “So I just wanted to say sorry.”

He added: “I’m sorry if this got you worked up, and if you were upset by it. This was for creative purposes. We were doing a take on some other stuff that has been done, just trying to be funny and, you know, whatever, didn’t work, and it wasn’t supposed to go out there, but it went out, and it’s cool, and it’s all right.

“Look, it’s the internet, you can’t control it, but thank you very much everybody who reached out and to everybody who’s going to be mad at me, you deserve to be mad at me.”

Newsweek has contacted Santos for further comment via email.

Santos was expelled from Congress in 2023 after a scathing ethics report said investigators found “substantial” proof that he had broken federal laws.

He was elected to represent New York’s 3rd District in 2022, but was engulfed in scandal before he was even sworn into office when reports emerged that he had lied about many aspects of his background.

Santos pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud in August, admitting that he filed fraudulent reports to the Federal Election Commission, embezzled funds from campaign donors and charged credit cards without authorization among other things.

He faces up to 22 years in prison when he is sentenced in February and owes more than $570,000 in restitution and forfeiture.