"A.I." Contestant Accused of "Masturbating" in Suit

Posted Mar 12th 2007 6:09PM by TMZ Staff

Mario Vazquez Former "American Idol" finalist Mario Vasquez is facing accusations that he tried to masturbate in front of a male employee in a bathroom on the set of the hit show in February 2005.

Shortly thereafter, Vasquez mysteriously dropped out of "Idol," citing personal reasons.

According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by TMZ, Vazquez allegedly "sexually harassed" Magdaleno Olmos, assistant accountant for Fremantle Media, the company that produces American Idol.

In the lawsuit, Olmos claims "Vazquez stared lasciviously, smiled lasciviously ... and on one occasion followed him into a bathroom ... knocked on the door of the plaintiff's stall and made eye contact through the space in the stall door."

The lawsuit alleges that Vazquez "started to rub his genitals over his pants. Attempting to leave the bathroom, Olmos opened the door of the stall and saw Vazquez standing in front of him with his pants down masturbating."

According to the documents, Vazquez pushed Olmos "further into the stall and continued masturbating with one hand and trying to pull down Olmos' pants with another hand."

Olmos claims that he tried to "cover his body with his hands" but Vazquez touched his "chest and stomach underneath his shirt, and Olmos' "genitals" as Vazquez "attempted to unzip" Olmos' pants.

Vazquez then allegedly asked Olmos "if he wanted oral sex."

In the lawsuit, Olmos claims that as he "managed to get out of the stall, and attempted to leave the bathroom," Vazquez, grabbed his arm "in an effort to stop him." Vazquez continued to call Olmos to come back as Vazquez "stood in the bathroom with his pants still down."

In the suit, Olmos claims that he tried to report the incident to a superior named Eric LaPointe, who allegedly responded by telling Olmos that "he was crazy" and "repeatedly threatening to fire" him. A few months after the incident, Olmos claims he was "terminated."

In addition to suing Vazquez, Olmos has named FOX Entertainment and Fremantle Media as defendants in his lawsuit for wrongful termination.

Reps from FOX tell TMZ, "We haven't been served, but we wouldn't comment on pending litigation."

Calls to Vazquez's attorney, and reps from "American Idol" on behalf of the defendants, have not yet been returned.

Filed under: Celebrity Justice, American Idol

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31. LOL!!

okay. so why is the guy suing now? why didn't he just kick Mario's ass?

Posted at 8:33PM on Mar 12th 2007 by sl

32. yea,i think i saw him jacking off on camera,new show americian jack-off,i like the story about snoop smoking blunts,now thats funny shit

Posted at 8:39PM on Mar 12th 2007 by Donald Trumps Buddy

33. There`s a capital letter G in front of od.

Posted at 8:45PM on Mar 12th 2007 by Terry

34. Congratulations America, this was almost your idol.

I guess its slightly better than having an Idol who does car commercials for a living.

Is that really who you want to idolize?

Its time to boycott this massive celebration of idiocy and narcissism called American Idol, recognizing it for what it really is: unadulterated rubbish

Posted at 8:47PM on Mar 12th 2007 by cyrusfx

35. nothing wrong with that

Posted at 8:55PM on Mar 12th 2007 by sasha

36. Okay. If it's true, then the guy IS a whack job, and he was also mistaken in choosing his "victim."

But, once again, WHY in the whole wide world, does anyone have to SUE about it??? The world is FULL of weirdos and whack jobs. Deal with it. Get over it. Make your money the old fashioned way...EARN IT.

Jeez...

Posted at 8:57PM on Mar 12th 2007 by mebunny

37. I always thought he was gay when he was on Idol and figured it was somehow related to his abrupt departure at the time(never bought the artistic freedom BS that Mario said at the time). Sadly it is a a lot more sordid than anyone would have thought. Gays who are in the spotlight should have learned from George Michael's washroom arrest when it comed to cruising. Be careful Clay!!

Posted at 8:59PM on Mar 12th 2007 by ChrisJ

38. TMZ you need to watch your headlines, before I read the article, I took it to say this guy had masterbated in his suit!! lol I was thinking that is REALLY disgusting, then I thought well how did they know?? DUH

Posted at 9:00PM on Mar 12th 2007 by Gail

39. Hmm...sounds fishy. Men tend to not report sexual harassment, especially in such a public media platform. I get the feeling that he might of been on the verge of being fired in the first place and then concocted this charade to make sure that if and when he was fired, he'd have a money cushion to fall back on.
That being said, I'd let Mario Vasquez do whatever he'd wanted with me. He's hot.

Posted at 9:10PM on Mar 12th 2007 by mb00

40. Ewwww, this story is just gross.

Posted at 9:11PM on Mar 12th 2007 by Haley

41. Everyone knew Idol was covering for Mario-no big surprise.

Posted at 9:18PM on Mar 12th 2007 by Jule

42. It doesn't make Mario a wackjob. It makes him a sexual compulsive.

And a horse's ass for pressing the issue, but mostly a sexual compulsive. You would think he'd behave under such circumstances, but more than likely his behavior was triggered by the pressure of being on the show.

Not excusing it. Just explaining it.

Posted at 9:42PM on Mar 12th 2007 by Joe B.

43. VERY SAD INDEED.. Mario why? why? why? there are so many hot guys at the bath house in NYC. or at the gym. Why him?

Posted at 9:51PM on Mar 12th 2007 by markus

44. I WISH MARIO WOULD HAVE DONE THAT TO ME
WE WOULD HAVE HAD FUN IN THE BATHROOM

Posted at 9:57PM on Mar 12th 2007 by CALL ME, MARIO !

45. When this same thing happens in public libraries, it's considered anything from a crime to something to cheer about. At least one library has hazmat kits to clean up after the dudes instead of stopping them in first place. See my web site for links to news reports showing guys at computers in the act right next to children's sections. All because libraries refuse to use Internet filtering software, quite likely.

Posted at 10:00PM on Mar 12th 2007 by SafeLibraries.org

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