After a Pennsylvania woman filed new legal papers on Tuesday, comedians Jimmy Fallon and Tracy Morgan and “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels are now involved in a legal complaint tied a 2021 sexual assault lawsuit.
The legal issue began in August 2021 when a woman, identified only as Jane Doe, sued former “SNL” star Horatio Sanz, claiming he’d sexually assaulted her when she was 17 years old, Variety reported.
On Tuesday, the woman asked the court’s permission to add Fallon, Morgan and Michaels as defendants in the lawsuit. She argued that they had helped enable Sanz’s misconduct toward her.
“This lawsuit seeks justice for Jane against Sanz and his enablers,” the legal filing stated.
“NBC, Michaels, Fallon, and Morgan enabled Sanz’s crimes of sexual assault and battery,” the filing stated later.
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“NBC, Sanz, Michaels, Fallon, and Morgan enabled each other’s crime of unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child,” it added.
In the original lawsuit, the woman alleged that Sanz “groomed” her when she was a teenage fan of “SNL.”
She claimed that Sanz kissed, groped and “attempted to digitally penetrate her” during a party in 2002, Variety reported.
But according to the lawsuit, Fallon would also drink with her at parties and at one point was told she was a junior in high school at the time.
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The plaintiff also said she met Michaels at one of the parties and that Morgan had been the one who rented out the space for the after-after-party in 2002 where Sanz allegedly assaulted her.
The woman was able to file the lawsuit many years after the fact under the New York state law that now allows a “lookback window” for victims of child sex abuse to bring claims that would have normally expired under the statute of limitations, according to Variety.
The woman’s attorney, Susan Crumiller, said that the woman was “lured” into the celebrities’ world and it “destroyed” her life, Deadline reported.
“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,” Crumiller said.
“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,” the attorney added.
However, NBC trying to get the lawsuit thrown out.
An network representative told the New York Post’s Page Six on Wednesday that, “Regardless of Jane Doe’s changing narratives, NBC intends to renew its motion to dismiss.”
Representatives for Sanz did not return a request for comment on the new filing, Page Six reported.
But when the lawsuit was first filed last year, Sanz’s representative said the claims were “categorically false” in a statement, according to Page Six.
“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,” attorney Andrew Brettler said in August 2021.
“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,” the attorney added.
But the woman is still seeking compensatory and punitive damages and also demanding a trial by jury, Page Six reported.
