NEW YORK — Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels and Tracy Morgan all enabled Horatio Sanz’s assault of an underage fan, according to the woman’s attorneys.
A Pennsylvania woman sued Sanz in August 2021, saying he sexually assaulted her at a “Saturday Night Live” after-party in 2002.
The woman, listed as Jane Doe in court documents, added Tina Fey and Seth Meyers to the lawsuit earlier this year. Doe said the two “SNL” stars were among many people who witnessed the assault but laughed it off.
Doe now wants to add Fallon, Michaels and Morgan. She said all three enabled Sanz’s behavior: Michaels by creating a “predatory environment” at “SNL” and Fallon and Morgan as “willing participants in this disturbing culture.”
“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,” her attorney Susan Crumiller said in a statement. “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.”
Sanz has denied the claims from the start, calling the accusations “categorically false,” “meritless” and “ludicrous.” His lawyer claimed last year that Doe approached Sanz and demanded $7.5 million for her silence.
Fallon, Michaels and Morgan have not publicly responded to the new claims.
Doe said she ran an “SNL” fansite that drew the attention of cast members and got her and a couple friends invited to after-parties with the stars.
In the lawsuit, Doe said she and Sanz were sitting on a couch at an after-party in 2002 when Sanz groped her and then digitally penetrated her vagina. She said several people witnessed the assault and she told Sanz to stop, but he insisted she “keep going with him.”
The suit says Sanz later texted Doe and wrote, “If you want to metoo me you have every right.”
NBC has attempted to remove itself from the suit, saying the company is not responsible for employees’ after-work behavior.
Doe’s attorneys said they plan to add Fallon, Michaels and Morgan to the lawsuit under New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Act, which allows a two-year-long “look-back” window for claims that usually would have expired under a statute of limitations. The law takes effect March 1, 2023.
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