The woman who previously sued former SNL star Horatio Sainz is asking the court to add Jimmy Fallon, SNL producer 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 as a teenager in the early 2000s. The lawsuit originally listed 20 unnamed SNL cast and crew members as co-defendants, with Doe “kissing her, groping her breasts, groping her buttocks, and kissing her” in a subsequent SNL episode. digitally penetrating her genitals without consent. , including NBC employees.”
According to a statement from Doe’s attorneys, the amended complaint was made possible because of changes to New York City’s upcoming Gender Motivated Violence Act (GMVA). The law – which goes into effect on March 1, 2023 – would allow victims to sue both abusers and supporters, and would also include a two-year “loopback window” for terminated claims.
Doe’s lawsuit was amended Tuesday to include a new cause of action under the GMVA, which claimed that Sanz’s alleged sexual assault and battery constituted “a crime of violence [s] and “gender-motivated”. crime of violence[s]” as defined by the new law. Fallon and Morgan “enable each other’s crimes of unlawfully treating a child and endangering the welfare of a child.”
“Sainz and her supporters lured Jen into her celebrity world and made her feel like a cool kid to drink and party with a group of famous adults,” Doe’s attorney, Susan Krumiller, said in a statement. “Instead, they destroyed his life. Jane has spent the past two decades grappling with the consequences of what happened to her; Now it’s his 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. An NBC representative told Rolling Stone that “regardless of the changing narrative of Jane Doe, NBC intends to renew its motion to dismiss.”
NBCUniversal attempted to dismiss the complaint in April, claiming they took no responsibility for Sanz’s behavior away from the show. The network wrote at the time, “Employers have no general duty to protect third persons from the possibility of sexual abuse by their employees.”
When contacted by Rolling Stone, Sanz’s lawyer, Andrew Breitler, did not comment further, but previously stated that “this man’s claims about Horatio Sanz are clearly false. Although he often repeats his ridiculous allegations.” Or tries to include other high-profile names to attract media attention, they will always be false. Before filing this lawsuit anonymously, she demanded $7.5 million in exchange for her silence. Of course We have refused and will vehemently oppose these completely baseless claims.”
In her lawsuit, Doe stated that she ran a Fallon fansite from 1999 to 2002, and that Fallon and Sainz emailed her from an NBC account in January 2000. She said she attended an SNL taping and met Sainz for the first time in October 2000. The suit describes Sanz as “the then 15-year-old with the flirtatious and physically affectionate … kissing her cheek and placing a hand on her waist”.
The lawsuit also includes allegations that Doe was allowed to attend another SNL party in May 2001, where she was given alcohol despite her young age. She also claimed that in August 2001 Sanz began messaging her online, asking for pictures of Doe, and conducting “conversations to discuss sex, sexual experiences, sexual fantasies, and masturbation”. The above allegation was made by Sanz in May 2002 of allegedly groping her after a party.