“SNL” staples Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels and Tracy Morgan have been added as defendants in a sexual assault lawsuit against their former colleague Horatio Sanz. According to the “Jane Doe” filing, the trio — along with several other “SNL” cast members — served as “enablers” to Sanz’s actions.
The suit was filed in August of last year, claiming that the victim met Sanz when she was 15 and operating fan sites about “Saturday Night Live.” Sanz allegedly invited her to a taping of the show in 2000 and “began his process of grooming.” In text communications with Doe, the actor allegedly steered the conversation toward topics like “sex, sexual experiences, sexual activities, sexual fantasies [and] masturbation.”
In the amended suit, Doe claims that many of those messages were sent while Sanz was “sitting several feet from Fallon in their shared office,” and that, “Under the circumstances, it is clear that Fallon was as aware of Sanz’ online grooming efforts as he was of his in-person conduct.” Reps for Fallon had no comment on the matter.
The new filing also specifically calls out a 2002 afterparty, hosted by Morgan, at which the plaintiff says she was openly groped in front of cast members, despite pleas to stop. The amended suit claims Morgan, Michaels and their colleagues knowingly put teenagers at risk in these afterparties.
“Michaels and SNL have a storied history of minimizing, disregarding, and/or burying sexual assault allegations,” the amended claim reads.
“Regardless of Jane Doe’s changing narratives, NBC intends to renew its motion to dismiss,” an NBC spokesperson told TheWrap. Reps for Morgan and Michaels did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
In August, Horatio Sanz’s attorney denied all accusations in a statement, calling them “categorically false.”
“This individual’s claims about Horatio Sanz are categorically false,” the statement said. “However often she repeats her ludicrous allegations or tries to rope in other high-profile names to generate media attention, they will always be false. Before filing this lawsuit anonymously, she demanded $7.5 million in exchange for her silence. We, of course, refused and will vigorously contest these totally meritless claims.”