SNL‘s Horatio Sanz Accused of Grooming and Sexually Assaulting an Underage Fan

Former Saturday Night Live cast member Horatio Sanz has been sued for grooming and sexually assaulting a teenaged fan, Variety reported last week. Both NBC Universal and SNL Studios are named as defendants in the suit, which alleges that Sanz plied the underage plaintiff with alcohol at various SNL afterparties in 2001 and 2002 and sexually assaulted her at one when she was 17.

According to the suit, the comedian met the fan when she was 15; he was 32 at the time. She ran a website devoted to Sanz’s fellow SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon, who invited her to a taping of the show in 2000. The following year she first attended one of the show’s afterparties, and Sanz started an online conversation with her through AOL Instant Messenger that eventually became sexual in nature. It culminated in the sexual assault at a show afterparty in 2002, when Sanz allegedly molested the fan.

The lawsuit also alleges that Sanz admitted his guilt to the plaintiff in 2019 in an apology sent through text messages. It states that Sanz wrote “if you want to metoo me you have every right” at the time, while admitting that he groomed her and engaged in inappropriate behavior.

In a statement, Sanz’s lawyer dismisses the lawsuit as “totally meritless” and accuses the plaintiff of trying to blackmail the comedian for $7.5 million.