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We're always amazed when a sexual harassment lawsuit is filed in Hollywood, as it's always been our understanding that all employer-employee relationships in the industry—if not contractually, then at least on a handshake basis—revolve around the exchange of intimate favors for the advancement of one's show business career. Still, every so often, a lone crusader files such a suit, the potential success of which threatens to plunge the industry into an anarchic state where hard work becomes more valuable than one's willingness to endure a little grab-assing from a handsy boss. The AP reports that the former personal assistant of Superman Returns producer Jon Peters is taking legal action against him, claiming that he harassed her in the following clumsy fashion:

According to the lawsuit, Peters frequently grabbed Morita's breasts, buttocks or legs, hugged and kissed her and made "rude, sexual and disparaging comments."

During filming of "Superman Returns" in Australia in July 2005, Peters crawled into her hotel room bed and refused to leave, the suit alleged. Morita also claims that in August 2005, while working in Peters' home, she walked in on him as he was naked and waiting to get a massage. The suit claims Peters chased her and gave her a bear hug. [...]

The suit also claims that last December, while on a trip to Peters' ranch in Santa Barbara, Peters exposed himself to Morita and her daughter, commenting, "Look what boys have!"

While one could conceivably argue that the unclothed chasing around of an employee before a masseuse's application of scented oils is a friendly, rather than sexually menacing, gesture, the exposing of oneself to a child is clearly beyond even Hollywood's liberal rules of workplace conduct. Entertainment lawyers, however, earn their Aspen vacation houses by explaining away even the creepiest behavior, and can probably find a way to frame the alleged incident as a harmless anatomy lesson no more damaging to a child's development than an episode of Blue's Clues about the differences between boys and girls.