New "American Idol" Scandal: Was Mario Vazquez Let Go Over Sexual Harassment Claims?

A man named Magdaleno Olmos, a former "American Idol" employee, has filed a lawsuit against American Idol Productions, Freemantle Media, FOX Broadcasting and former "Idol" contestant Mario Vazquez suggesting he was sexually harassed on the set of the reality show and then fired after he complained about it.

The man describes in his lawsuit the alleged harassment in graphic detail suggesting former "American Idol" contestant Mario Vazquez who mysteriously dropped out of the competition only one day after the announcement of the 2005 American Idol Top-12 masturbated in front of him and tried to coax him into performing oral sex on him.

The suit recounts a particular incident that occurred on February 22, 2005 as follows: "Vazquez entered the bathroom, knocked on the door of Plaintiff's stall, looked under the door, looked through the space in the stall door and made eye contact with Plaintiff."

"Vazquez then started to rub his genitals over his pants. Attempting to leave the bathroom, Plaintiff opened the door of the stall and saw Vazquez standing in front of him with his pants down masturbating," it continues. Olmos further accuses Vazquez of having touched him in a "sexual" way and asking the "Idol" worker "if he wanted oral sex."

Olmos then claims that he attempted to report the incident to a superior named Eric LaPointe, who allegedly responded by telling Olmos that "he was crazy." Olmos claims that he was terminated from his job a few months after the incident.

In the spring of 2005 Mario Vazquez was believed to be one of the strongest contestants in the fourth season of the FOX reality competition. He dropped out of the contest "for personal reasons" and neither Vazquez nor American Idol ever disclosed the true reason behind his inexplicable decision.

Ultimately, Carrie Underwood went on to win the fourth season of the competition, while Vazquez recorded a solo album released in 2006. The album was a flop - after debuting at #80 and selling only 12000 copies it fell out of the Billboard Top 200 within 2 weeks.

During an MTV TRL appearance in 2006, Vazquez attributed his departure from "American Idol" to his need to control the "sound" that he has worked on since he was 13 years old.

An electronic copy of the lawsuit is available to download at the Access Hollywood website.

"American Idol" has yet to issue a statement.

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