Jimmy Fallon being sued as the co-defendants
Horatio Sanz, a former “SNL” cast member, is being sued by a woman for sexual assault. On Tuesday, the woman requested permission from the court to add Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels, and Tracy Morgan as defendants, claiming that they condoned Sanz’s behavior.
The woman who previously filed a sexual assault complaint against former SNL actor Horatio Sanz is now asking the court to include Jimmy Fallon, SNL creator Lorne Michaels, and Tracy Morgan in her case.
An anonymous Jane Doe first filed the case in 2021, accusing Sanz of sexually assaulting and grooming her while she was a teenager in the early 2000s. Doe accused Sanz of “kissing her, caressing her breasts, groping her buttocks, and digitally probing her genitals violently without consent” at an SNL afterparty “composed of people, including NBC employees”; the lawsuit originally recognises 20 unknown SNL cast and crew members as the co-defendants.
The sexual assault complaint against SNL crew
The amended complaint was made feasible by modifications to New York City’s upcoming Gender Motivated Violence Act, according to a statement from Doe’s attorneys (GMVA). The law, which takes effect on March 1, 2023, would provide victims the right to sue both abusers and enablers and contain a two-year “loopback window” for cases that have already run their course.
The complaint claims that from 2000 to 2002, the accused and her adolescent friends frequently went to “SNL” after-parties. According to the lawsuit, she would drink at these gatherings with Fallon and Sanz, and when Fallon allegedly asked her age, she replied that she was a junior in high school. She also met Michaels at one of the gatherings, and the complaint claims that Michaels counseled her on pursuing a literary career.
A new cause of action under the GMVA was added to Doe’s lawsuit on Tuesday, claiming that Sanz’s claimed sexual assault and battery qualified as both “crimes of violence” and “crimes of violence motivated by gender” under the new law. NBC, Sanz, Michaels, Fallon, and Morgan were accused of “enabling each other’s crimes of unlawfully interacting with a child and endangering the welfare of a child,” as well as “enabling Sanz’s crimes of sexual assault and violence.”
Doe’s attorney, Susan Crumiller, released a statement saying, “Sanz and his enablers drew Jane into their celebrity world and made her feel like a cool child for drinking and partying with a lot of famous grown-ups.” They ruined her life instead. Now that Jane has had two decades to deal with the fallout from what they did to her, it’s their turn. When the GMVA lookback window opens in March, we look forward to holding NBC, Sanz, and everyone else who encouraged this repulsive behavior accountable.
Rolling Stone’s requests for response from Fallon, Michaels, and Morgan’s representatives were not immediately fulfilled. According to an NBC representative, “NBC expects to renew its move to dismiss” regardless of Jane Doe’s shifting narratives, Rolling Stone reported.
In an attempt to have the case dismissed in April, NBC Universal asserted that they had no responsibility for Sanz’ behavior outside of the show. The network stated at the time that “employers bear no general obligation to protect third-parties from the potential for sexual abuse by their workers.”
When contacted by Rolling Stone, Sanz’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, declined to speak further but had previously stated that “this individual’s assertions concerning Horatio Sanz are totally incorrect. No matter how many times she makes the same absurd claims or attempts to include other well-known figures to attract media attention, they will always be untrue. She requested $7.5 million in exchange for her quiet before bringing this action in secret. Naturally, we declined and will vehemently refute these wholly baseless charges.
Doe claimed in her lawsuit that she operated a Fallon fan site from 1999 to 2002 and that Fallon and Sanz emailed her in January 2000 through an NBC account. She claimed that in October 2000, she went to an SNL taping and first encountered Sanz. According to the lawsuit, Sanz was “flirtatious and physically friendly with the then-15-year-old… caressing her cheek and placing hands on her waist.”
Additionally, the lawsuit makes claims that Doe was served alcohol while underage while attending another SNL afterparty in May 2001. She further asserted that in August 2001, Sanz started contacting her via instant message, asking for pictures of Doe, and directing “conversations to discuss sex, sexual experiences, sexual desires, and masturbation.” Sanz allegedly touched her inappropriately at an after-party in May 2002, as was previously claimed.
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