Horatio Sanz Accuser: Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels, Tracy Morgan ‘Enabled Sexual Assault and Battery’
The woman who previously sued former SNL star Horatio Sanz is asking the court to add Jimmy Fallon, SNL creator Lorne Michaels, and Tracy Morgan to her sexual assault lawsuit.
The lawsuit was initially filed in 2021 by an anonymous Jane Doe, who accused Sanz of sexually assaulting and grooming her when she was a teenager in the early 2000s. The lawsuit originally listed 20 unnamed SNL cast and crew members as co-defendants, with Doe accusing Sanz of “kissing her, groping her breasts, groping her buttocks, and digitally penetrating her genitals forcibly without consent” at an SNL afterparty “insight of attendees, including NBC employees.”
According to a statement from Doe’s lawyers, the amended complaint was made possible by changes to New York City’s forthcoming Gender Motivated Violence Act (GMVA). The law — which goes into effect March 1, 2023 — will allow victims to sue both abusers and enablers, and will also include a two-year “loopback window” for expired claims.
Doe’s lawsuit was amended Tuesday to include a new cause of action under the GMVA that claims Sanz’s alleged sexual assault and battery constituted “crime[s] of violence” and “crime[s] of violence motivated by gender” as defined by the new law. It also claims NBC, Michaels, Fallon, and Morgan “enabled Sanz’s crimes of sexual assault and battery,” and that NBC, Sanz, Michaels, Fallon, and Morgan “enabled each other’s crimes of unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child.”
“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,” Doe’s lawyer, 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. We look forward to holding NBC, Sanz, and everyone else who enabled this disgusting behavior accountable when the GMVA lookback window opens in March.”
Representatives for Fallon, Michaels, and Morgan did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s requests for comment. A rep for NBC told Rolling Stone that “regardless of Jane Doe’s changing narratives, NBC intends to renew its motion to dismiss.”
NBCUniversal attempted to dismiss the complaint in April, claiming that they did not bare any responsibility for Sanz’ behavior away from the show. “Employers owe no general duty to protect third-persons from the possibility of sexual abuse by their employees,” the network wrote at the time.
Sanz’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, did not have a further comment when contacted by Rolling Stone, but previously said that “this individual’s claims about Horatio Sanz are categorically false. 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.”
In her lawsuit, Doe said she ran a Fallon fansite from 1999 to 2002, and that Fallon and Sanz emailed her from an NBC account in January 2000. She said she attended an SNL taping and met Sanz for the first time in October 2000, with the suit describing Sanz as “flirtatious and physically affectionate with the then-15-year-old… kissing her cheek and putting hands on her waist.”
The suit also includes allegations that Doe was allowed to attend another SNL afterparty in May 2001 where she was given alcohol even though she was underage. She also claimed Sanz began instant messaging her online in August 2001, asking for photos of Doe, and steering “conversations to discuss sex, sexual experiences, sexual fantasies, and masturbation.” The aforementioned allegation of Sanz groping her at an afterparty allegedly occurred in May 2002.
Additional reporting by Cheyenne Roundtree