After announcing he would not return to Congress, Matt Gaetz is trying out a new career path: making personalized videos on Cameo.
Gaetz, a former Florida representative, joined the celebrity video message app last week, a day after withdrawing his name from consideration to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general amid sexual misconduct allegations. Gaetz has denied the allegations but cited the “distraction” as part of his reason for stepping down.
Now, he’s putting his spare time to “good” use with paid holiday wishes, marriage congratulations, and career pep talks priced at $550 minimum per video, which so far have averaged about a minute and a half in length. “I served in Congress,” his Cameo page reads, “Trump nominated me to be U.S. Attorney General (that didn’t work out). Once I fired the House Speaker.” (Gaetz did indeed help engineer the 2023 ouster of former GOP House Speaker House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.)
In one video, Gaetz filmed himself congratulating a recipient for making partner at their law firm. “Look, I know your politics and mine may not align specifically, but you know, our career trajectories might not be either. I mean, here you are making partner, and my legal career took a little bit of a different turn this last week,” Gaetz said. “But you know what? Work hard, get paid a lot of money, do a lot of great things as a practitioner and counselor at law, and you know, you never know. You could be an attorney general nominee, too.”
MATT GAETZ ON CAMEO: "My legal career took a bit of a different turn this last week — but you know what? Work hard, make a lot of money, do a lot of great things as a practitioner and councilor at law and, you know, you never know. You could be an Attorney General nominee too." pic.twitter.com/rYq6jLU0D6
— Helen Caddes 🔥 (@helencaddes) November 24, 2024
In another video he offered a pep talk to a web designer struggling at work. Sharing the clip to X, one user commented, “Imagine ur buddy is going thru it, super down on life so you cheer him up with a Matt Gaetz cameo vid about how his “fungible skills driving connectivity” will be great for the AI workforce transition.
In recent years, Cameo has become a go-to career move for public figures in need of extra cash. Other notable politicians who turned to Cameo after being ousted from their jobs include Rod Blagojevich, former Illinois governor who was removed from office and incarcerated on charges of public corruption; Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and Trump advisor who was disbarred over false 2020 election claims; and former Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from the House late last year amid allegations of wire fraud and identity theft.
“I don’t care if you’re left, right, center, red, blue, black, white, straight, gay or trans,” one X user wrote, “Matt Gaetz going from Attorney General to Cameo in 48 hours is hilarious & rock bottom.”
