Woman Accusing Horatio Sanz of Sexual Assault Claims Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels, and Tracy Morgan Enabled Him
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SNL alum Horatio Sanz was hit with a lawsuit last year from a woman alleging he assaulted her in 2000. Now, the lawsuit is accusing more SNL stars of enabling the assault.
The anonymous woman, who filed the lawsuit in August 2021, says she was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live in 2000 when she was just 15. The woman ran fan pages for SNL cast members, including Jimmy Fallon and Sanz, according to a 2021 article from Variety:
The suit alleges that Sanz and Fallon emailed her in January 2000, when she was 15, and that she first met Sanz in person after a taping in October 2000. At the time, she alleges that Sanz kissed her on the cheek and put his hands on her waist.
Over the next year, she and her friends would travel to New York to wait in the “SNL” standby line and seek autographs. In May 2001, when she was 16, she got into the show’s after-party, and was served alcohol and danced, according to the suit. The following week, she again attended the after-party, and alleges that Sanz invited her and others up to the roof of the building to watch the sunrise.
Later that year, she alleges that she and Sanz began an incessant exchange of instant messages, in which Sanz — who was then 32 — allegedly steered the conversation to “sexual experiences, sexual activities, sexual fantasies, masturbation and Sanz’s instruction of plaintiff in sexual acts.”
She then claims that at a party in May 2002, when she was 17, Sanz kissed, groped and tried to digitally penetrate her, according to Variety.
The interactions allegedly lasted from 2000 to 2002. Sanz’s lawyer denied the accusations and, according to Variety, claimed the woman was seeking a payout of $7.5 million before filing the August 2021 lawsuit. NBC Universal, the parent company that is also named in the suit, filed to dismiss the case.
Now, the woman has hired a new lawyer, Susan Crumiller, who is seeking to amend the lawsuit to name Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, and SNL creator Lorne Michaels as defendants. She claims they enabled Sanz‘s inappropriate behavior.
Per Variety:
The suit alleges that Fallon and Sanz would drink with her at these parties, and that Fallon once questioned her about her age, and she responded that she was a junior in high school. She also met Michaels at one of the parties, who gave her advice on pursuing a writing career, according to the complaint.
The suit alleges that Morgan rented out a space for an after-after-party in May 2002, where Sanz allegedly groped her against her will.
NBC did not respond to Mediaite’s request for comment, but a network spokesperson told Variety they would again seek to have the suit tossed.
