A woman has added Hollywood stars Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, and Lorne Michaels to a lawsuit accusing them of being “enablers” of former Saturday Night Live cast member Horatio Sanz at the time that she claims he sexual assaulted her, then a 17-year-old.
The unnamed Pennsylvania woman claims that the stars enabled a predatory environment, as teenage girls commonly attended “after-parties” and “after-after parties” in New York as members of the Saturday Night Live cast celebrated after broadcasts, according to Deadline.
In her lawsuit, the woman also claims that SNL and NBC officials knowingly allowed alcohol to be served to these teen girls at the parties. The filing also says that Fallon and Morgan participated in these parties and that in 2002, she was sexually assaulted by Sanz in front of witnesses. She says she has suffered mental trauma ever since.
In the initial suit filed in 2021, the woman claimed she was invited to the SNL set by Sanz and Fallon after she started a fan website for the show.
She further alleged that Sanz continued corresponding with her and “grooming” her for further contact.
“Sanz and his enablers lured Jane into their celebrity world and made her feel like a cool kid for drinking and partying with a bunch of famous grown-ups,” said attorney Susan Crumiller. “Instead, they destroyed her life. Jane has spent the past two decades struggling with the repercussions of what they did to her; now it’s their turn. We look forward to holding NBC, Sanz, and everyone else who enabled this disgusting behavior accountable when the GMVA lookback window opens in March.”
Sanz’s attorney called the allegations “categorically false” and alleged that the woman attempted to convince Sanz to pay her $7.5 million to remain quiet about the supposed assault. NBC also moved to have the courts dismiss the case.
The SNL Jane Doe lawsuit is far from the only such lawsuit alleging sexual assault in the entertainment industry. To name only a few, CAA talent agent Cade Hudson was accused of sexual assault of clients in 2017, actor James Franco paid out $2.2 million to settle a sexual misconduct case in 2021. Beyond lawsuits, this year director Paul Haggis and Scrubs producer Eric Weinberg were both arrested on assault charges.
And in the biggest sexual assault case of them all, convicted abuser Harvey Weinstein is still being buffeted with legal troubles when in June, authorities in the U.K. agreed to allow new charges to be filed against the disgraced producer.
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