A woman who has accused former Saturday Night Live cast member Horatio Sanz of sexual abuse has added the names of Jimmy Fallon and Tracy Morgan to the list of defendants she names in her 2021 lawsuit.
The woman, who was 17 when the alleged incidents occurred in 2002, said the atmosphere created at the show’s “after-parties” and “after-after parties” was part of an environment created by Michaels, and Fallon and Morgan were participants in said culture.
“Central to the SNL cast’s culture are its world-famous ‘after-parties’ and ‘after-after-parties,’ to which SNL transports guests in limousines from its offices at Rockefeller Center,” the legal filing claims. “These parties are the stuff of legends; they are major career networking opportunities with the rich and powerful SNL luminaries.”
The filing says that the “SNL crowd” — including SNL producer Lorne Michaels — knew teenage girls were regularly invited to these parties and served alcohol.
The plaintiff, “Jane Doe,” “attended the show and/or after-parties on no fewer than 17 separate evenings, including over 20 SNL parties, where she and her teenage friends socialized with SNL cast and executives alike,” the filing states
Then the filing gets down to brass tacks:
In 2002, Tracy Morgan hosted a notorious “after-after-party” where hired sex workers were part of the entertainment. However, another unwitting part of the entertainment was 17-year-old Jane. At this party, cast member Horatio Sanz groped Jane’s breasts and buttocks and rubbed her vagina, in full view of party onlookers, continuing the assault even as she implored him to stop. Jane not only felt sexually humiliated and degraded, but her lifelong career aspirations of working at SNL ground to a halt – as the entire SNL cast watched and her idols, Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch, laughed at her.
“Michaels is known for controlling every detail on the show. He has complete power and authority over it, which he wields singularly,” the filing comments.
“Jane,” who documents how her life later spiraled out of control after her encounters with SNL, claims she met Fallon in 1999, when she was 14; her meeting with him was reportedly documented by a New York Magazine article. She created a fan website, which got hacked into, but she stated Fallon emailed her a supportive message along with Sanz.
In October 2000, the day before the SNL season premiere, Jane traveled hours from her home, hoping to attend. She allegedly met Sanz, whom she says flirted with her.
After repeated trips to SNL over several months, Jane states, she was finally invited to the first SNL after-party she would attend. She claims Sanz would leak her information about the show which she could use on her website.
The filing cites an after-party on May 11, 2002, that Morgan hosted. “17-year-old Jane was very drunk as they made out, and Sanz began rubbing Jane’s vagina over her clothing,” the filing claims, adding, “In a moment that felt like her worst nightmare, Jane glanced up to see that the majority of the SNL cast was gawking at her. Worse, two of her lifelong idols, Fey and Dratch, were not only staring directly at her, watching her being groped, but giggling excitedly with their hands over their mouths.”
“Suddenly, Sanz grabbed Jane’s breasts and lifted them out of her shirt from behind, exposing them to all of the party attendees, but for his hands. When Fey and Dratch saw Jane looking at them, they immediately hid behind others, though they continued to giggle,” the filing asserts. “Jane protested as best she could, asking Sanz repeatedly to stop, but he did not. … Jane’s unwitting role as the party entertainment may have been terrible for her, but it served its purpose. In her 2012 memoir, Dratch later described that party as ‘the most memorable after-after party.’”
The next week, Sanz and Fallon brought Jane and one of her friends upstairs to the party in the SNL offices, where she claims Sanz told her, “Don’t worry, Jimmy [Fallon] doesn’t care if you’re a slut.”
The legal filing concludes, “NBC, Sanz, Michaels, Fallon, and Morgan enabled each other’s crime of unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child. As a direct and proximate result, Doe has suffered emotional and psychological distress, physical injury, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, embarrassment, pain and suffering, and economic damages.”