John Travolta's Difficult Week: Another Sexual Harassment Claim

Actor's lawyer vehemently denies all three claims that have been made so far.
By Gil Kaufman

John Travolta
Photo: Getty Images

After two anonymous male masseurs came forward with claims alleging that John Travolta assaulted and sexually harassed them during rub downs, another man has come forward with a similar story.

The third alleged victim, the first to be publicly named, is Chilean cruise ship employee Fabian Zanzi, who, according to reports, says that Travolta accosted him in 2009 while he was working as a VIP liaison on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

Zanzi told ABC.es that Travolta offered him $12,000 to have sex, but that he spurned the "Pulp Fiction" star's advances. "He hugged me and asked me to do a massage," Zanzi said. The cruise ship worker has reportedly filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Travolta, but no evidence of that suit had emerged at press time.

The latest allegation capped a difficult week for the married star, who has long battled allegations that he is gay. The two anonymous masseurs filed a $2 million civil lawsuit
 against Travolta earlier in the week, which the actor's lawyer tagged as "a complete fiction and fabrication." Speaking on Travolta's behalf, attorney Marty Singer said, "None of the events claimed in the suit ever occurred. The plaintiff, who refuses to give their name, knows that the suit is a baseless lie. It is for that reason that the plaintiff hasn't been identified with a name even though it is required to do so."

Singer went on to say that Travolta, 58, was not in California on the date when the first claimant — who has since said he got the date wrong — said the "Hairspray" actor made sexual advances towards him during a massage.

On Friday (May 11), Singer also denied the claims by Zanzi, accusing him of "hopping on the bandwagon" in search of "his 15 minutes of fame."

"This individual is simply hopping on the bandwagon to get his 15 minutes of fame by coming up with a story for the first time with something that supposedly happened over three years ago," Singer told the New York Daily News. "Nobody has ever heard from this guy before. No lawyer has contacted us."

Radar Online reported that the Atlanta resort where the second John Doe accuser claims Travolta made sexual advances has been asked to preserve the surveillance tape taken during that time in the event that it becomes evidence in the lawsuit.

Quoting an unidentified source close to the case, the gossip site reported, "The hotel has been notified by the masseur's attorney to preserve the surveillance video of the time when Travolta stayed there ... The surveillance video will be crucial evidence in the case because it shows Travolta going to the spa the next day after it is claimed the incident occurred, looking for the masseur, because he wanted to see him again, which is all detailed in the lawsuit. Travolta was told the masseur wasn't available and he left. The masseur was extremely upset when he left Travolta's room, which would have been captured on the camera in the hallway as well."

The 14-page suit filed by the first alleged victim last Friday in California's U.S. District Court, charges Travolta with assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that among other salacious activities, Travolta exposed himself and groped the masseur despite protests during a massage performed in Los Angeles in January 2011.

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