Young female staffers allege SNL had an "incredibly sexist environment" from the late 1990s to mid-2000s

https://www.businessinsider.com/saturday-night-live-sexism-horatio-sanz-lawsuit-2022-5

Speaking anonymously to Insider, female staffers recalled a culture at SNL where older producers said offensive things -- like asking a young staffer to put Listerine strips on her vagina -- without consequences, reports Insider's Katie Warren. The young staffers feared reporting to HR would have consequences on their career. Lorne Michaels was known for having a roster of young, attractive female assistants nicknamed "the Lornettes," while then-head writer Tina Fey sometimes made jokes that crossed the line. Warren adds: "For the young women who worked on the show — the interns and NBC pages who had fought for their coveted positions — this environment could be treacherous. Several former staffers said male members of the cast and staff would hook up with female college-age interns at post-show parties. The young staffer said that when she interned on the 1999-2000 season before being hired full time, the cast member Horatio Sanz followed her into a bedroom at a party and asked to touch her breasts. Another former intern said that at a different party at about this time, a high-profile cast member asked her to sit on his lap and licked one of her cheeks. At the SNL offices, it often felt as if there were no rules, with the young staffer saying a colleague showed her a nude photo of himself without her consent." Warren also brought up the lawsuit filed by a former 17-year-old superfan accusing Sanz of sexually assault in 2002. NBC Universal declined comment. Sanz declined to comment, while Fey did not respond to a request for comment.