Comedian Horatio Sanz of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) fame has been hit with a lawsuit claiming that he groomed and sexually assaulted a Pennsylvania teen fan at a party.
According to the lawsuit that was filed on Thursday, she first met Sanz in 2000 when she was 15 years old. He invited her to a recording of the sketch comedy show. The following year, he invited her to many after-show parties where he touched her inappropriately, let her consume alcohol, and told her “to sit on his lap." In August 2001, Sanz allegedly messaged her, gave her tickets to the show and leaked her details about musical guests on “SNL” and its hosts.
Soon, he started cyber sex relationship with her. He allegedly asked her to send him images of herself and “to perform sexual acts, including masturbation, which he asked her to describe to him.” The lawsuit said that he exchanged messages with her and "steered conversations to discuss sex, sexual experiences, sexual activities, sexual fantasies, masturbation," according to Page Six. The comedian later reportedly admitted that he masturbated while having conversations with her.
Then in September 2001, he allegedly asked her to attend a “SNL” party. At the bash, she consumed beer with Sanz, former “SNL” actor Jimmy Fallon and others. This reportedly happened in the presence of NBC and "SNL" employees.
The following year there was another star-studded party where Sanz is said to have sexually assaulted her and fondled her in front of others. He allegedly groped her breasts and buttocks, kissed her and digitally penetrated her genitals without her consent. According to the lawsuit, a party-goer asked, “Are you f***ing serious?” But apparently that guest did not do anything to stop the comedian's creepy actions. This reportedly affected the teen so much that she became depressed. She was even hospitalized.
Years later in 2019, she came across Sanz at an event where he apologized, and said that he “felt terrible.” He allegedly said that he had a real issue with sex. He didn’t know how it worked. He reportedly claimed that he wasn’t normal with girls as he spent his 20s trying to be funny.
According to the lawsuit, the “victim of child sexual abuse," who suffered “psychological and emotional harm,” is now demanding unspecified damages.
Meanwhile, Sanz's lawyer, Andrew Brettler, said that the woman's claims made in the lawsuit are "ludicrous," and "categorically false." The comedian's lawyer told TMZ that before taking the legal route, the woman demanded $7.5 million in exchange for her silence. The comedian's team refused, and said that they will "vigorously contest these totally meritless claims."
