UPDATE, 5:40 PM: Over 24 hours after Paul Abdul filed her sexual assault and gender violence lawsuit in opposition to Nigel Lythgoe and American Idol producers, the co-creator of So You Assume You Can Dance has lastly responded.
Lythgoe has gone on the offensive in opposition to what he says are false accusations and a “smear” on his character.
Abdul has alleged that Lythgoe assaulted her on two events — as soon as within the early years of the broadly profitable Idol in a resort elevator and once more in 2015 at his house at a SYTYCD assembly. The Grammy winner additionally claims that she was ruthlessly mocked and underpaid for her pivotal position in Idol’s small display dominance within the first decade of the twenty first century. In her jury trial searching for criticism (see a hyperlink to the total submitting under) Abdul moreover insists she witnessed Lythgoe assault considered one of his assistants at a Las Vegas Idol filming and that the EP taunted her that the statute of limitations had run out on one of many assaults.
None of that’s true, Lythgoe says as we speak.
“To say that I’m shocked and saddened by the allegations made in opposition to me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” Lythgoe declared Saturday in an announcement to Deadline.
“For greater than 20 years, Paula and I’ve interacted as pricey – and completely platonic – pals and colleagues,” the OBE recipient added. “Yesterday, nonetheless, out of the blue, I discovered of those claims within the press and I need to be clear: not solely are they false, they’re deeply offensive to me and to every thing I stand for.”
Most defendants would cease there, however Lythgoe takes it one private step additional in his response.
“Whereas Paula’s historical past of erratic habits is well-known, I can’t fake to grasp precisely why she would file a lawsuit that she should know is unfaithful,” he states in a transparent swipe at his former colleague. “However I can promise that I’ll struggle this appalling smear with every thing I’ve.”
PREVIOUSLY DEC 29 PM: Lower than 72 hours earlier than California’s Sexual Abuse and Cowl Up Accountability Act expires, Paula Abdul as we speak filed a sexual assault and gender violence lawsuit in opposition to American Idol EP and So You Assume You Can Dance decide Nigel Lythgoe over a number of alleged assaults.
“Lythgoe knew and was conscious that his remedy of Abdul was inappropriate and even prison,” the Grammy winner says of the British producer’s allegedly well-known “indecent conduct” within the four-claim criticism filed as we speak in LA Superior Courtroom. “Certainly at one level Lythgoe known as Abdul and taunted her that they need to rejoice as a result of it had been ‘seven years and the statute of limitations had run,’” the jury trial searching for submitting goes on to state. “Lythgoe clearly knew that his assaults of Abdul weren’t simply improper however that he held the facility to maintain her silent.”
“For years, Abdul has remained silent in regards to the sexual assaults and harassment she skilled on account of Lythgoe resulting from concern of talking out in opposition to one of the well-known producers of tv competitors exhibits who may simply break her profession as a tv persona and of being ostracized and blackballed by an business that had a sample of defending highly effective males and silencing survivors of sexual assault and harassment,” the 2002 – 2009 Idol decide and 2015 – 2017 SYTYCD decide declares (learn Paula Abdul’s full sexual assault submitting right here).
“As well as, the contracts Abdul signed to seem on American Idol and So You Assume You Can Dance, which have been drafted by entities with which Lythgoe was related, prohibited Abdul from publicly discussing something that is likely to be deemed ‘confidential enterprise info’ (together with details about the judges, hosts or manufacturing entities or employees) and/or which may very well be perceived as ‘derogatory,’” the submitting provides.
Among the many assault claims, there are additionally allegations of compensation discrimination within the criticism, as nicely authentic Idol decide Abdul being the goal of “fixed taunts, bullying, humiliation, and harassment” on the then mega-rated present. Nonetheless, it’s the performer’s Johnson & Johnson LLP attorneys’ detailing of two specific bodily assaults on their consumer by SYTYCD co-creator Lythgoe, who has made public and now probably ominous remarks prior to now about desirous to “abuse” Abdul, that make up the core of the criticism.
The primary alleged assault occurred “throughout considered one of American Idol’ s preliminary seasons” in a resort elevator whereas the Simon Cowell co-judged present was on the street. “Lythgoe shoved Abdul in opposition to the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and commenced shoving his tongue down her throat,” the doc states, with Abdul finally escaping to her room within the early 2000s and contacting her reps ASAP.
The second assault supposedly occurred over a decade later in 2015 throughout Season 12 of SYTYCD at Lythgoe’s LA house. “Towards the tip of the night, Lythgoe compelled himself on high of Abdul whereas she was seated on his sofa and tried to kiss her whereas proclaiming that the 2 would make a superb ‘energy couple,’” the submitting says of what Abdul assumed was a “skilled invitation” from her EP and on-air co-star. “Abdul pushed Lythgoe off of her, explaining that she was not fascinated by his advances and instantly left.” That very same yr, Abdul says she witnessed Lythgoe assaulted considered one of his assistants when SYTYCD was filming in Las Vegas.
In each circumstances of assaults on her personally, Abdul says she was very a lot conscious how Lythgoe was considered one of her bosses and “feared she can be retaliated in opposition to if she spoke out.” Abdul, who has appeared on Idol and numerous different competitors collection as a visitor decide, performer and in any other case in subsequent years, was in a position to file as we speak’s authorized motion below the Golden State’s December thirty first expiring Sexual Abuse and Cowl-Up Accountability Act as a result of the measure permits civil lawsuits on claims that in any other case can be time-barred by the statute of limitations.
Filed in LASC Friday, the broad ranging however unspecified damages searching for criticism names Lythgoe as nicely American Idol’s producers American Idol Productions, Dance Nation Productions, 19 Leisure and Fremantlemedia North America as defendants too
“Ms. Abdul needs to be counseled for the immense braveness required to take motion in opposition to the kind of abuse that was inflicted upon her, significantly when the alleged abuser is a determine so dominant in her occupation,” stated Daniel Johnson, considered one of her legal professionals. “It was clearly a tough choice to make, however Ms. Abdul is aware of that she stands each within the footwear and on the shoulders of many different equally located survivors, and she or he is set to see that justice is completed.”
Reps for the defendants responded to request for remark from Deadline on the go well with. If and after they do, this put up can be up to date,
Lythgoe has not been related to both American Idol or SYTYCD for a number of years. This yr alone, Abdul appeared on Hell’s Kitchen, Celeb Wheel of Fortune and Dancing with the Stars as a participant, contestant, and visitor decide.
