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Paula Abdul is suing Nigel Lythgoe, claiming the “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance” manufacturer sexually assaulted her whilst filming the contest presentations.
Abdul alleges within the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Friday and got by means of Web page Six, that Lythgoe sexually assaulted her in a resort elevator whilst they had been touring for “American Idol” all over one of the vital display’s “initial seasons.”
“Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and began shoving his tongue down her throat,” the courtroom paperwork state.
“Abdul attempted to push Lythgoe away from her. When the doors to the elevator for her door opened, Abdul ran out of the elevator and to her hotel room. Abdul quickly called one of her representatives in tears to inform them of the assault.”
Abdul, 61, claims any other incident came about whilst she used to be a pass judgement on on “So You Think You Can Dance.” She alleges in courtroom paperwork that Lythgoe, 74, invited her over to his house for dinner and permitted as she believed it used to be a “professional invitation.”
“Toward the end of the evening, Lythgoe forced himself on top of Abdul while she was seated on his couch and attempted to kiss her while proclaiming that the two would make an excellent ‘power couple,’” courtroom paperwork state. “Abdul pushed Lythgoe off of her, explaining that she was not interested in his advances and immediately left.”
Court docket paperwork state that Abdul additionally allegedly witnessed Lythgoe sexually attack certainly one of her assistants in 2015. Whilst filming the dance festival sequence, Lythgoe allegedly “pressed himself up” towards her assistant and “began to grope her” with out consent, consistent with the lawsuit.
Abdul additional alleges that Lythgoe “verbally insulted and belittled” her in a gathering earlier than she formally signed on to pass judgement on “American Idol” in April 2002 and used to be discriminated towards all the way through her time running at the display.
She claims she selected to not talk up about any of the allegations on the time over concern of retaliation from her former boss.
“For years, Abdul has remained silent about the sexual assaults and harassment she experienced on account of Lythgoe due to fear of speaking out against one of the most well-known producers of television competition shows who could easily break her career as a television personality and of being ostracized and blackballed by an industry that had a pattern of protecting powerful men and silencing survivors of sexual assault and harassment,” the lawsuit states.
The mythical choreographer – who just lately visitor judged an episode of “Dancing With the Stars” – alleges Lythgoe “knew and was aware” that his remedy of Abdul used to be “inappropriate and even criminal.”
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“Indeed at one point Lythgoe called Abdul and taunted her that they should celebrate because it had been ‘seven years and the statute of limitations had run,’” courtroom paperwork state. “Lythgoe clearly knew that his assaults of Abdul were not just wrong but that he held the power to keep her silent.”
The “Straight Up” singer additionally lists the manufacturing firms for “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance” – American Idol Productions, Dance Country Productions, 19 Leisure and Fremantlemedia North The us – as defendants, alleging “sexual assault/battery, sexual harassment, gender violence, and negligence” as reasons of motion.
The lawsuit used to be filed beneath California’s Sexual Abuse and Duvet-Up Duty Act, which supplies plaintiffs a one-year window to record claims that may in a different way be outdoor the statute of barriers.
Reps for Abdul and Lythgoe didn't instantly reply to Web page Six’s requests for remark.