JoJo Siwa is ready to switch Nigel Lythgoe as a pass judgement on on So You Assume You Can Dance after Lythgoe used to be accused of sexual attack.
Fox issued a press unencumber on Friday, January 26, pronouncing Siwa, 20, would go back for season 18 of the dance pageant collection, which premieres on Monday, March 4, after up to now showing as a pass judgement on on season 17. Allison Holker and Maksim Chmerkovskiy will whole the panel. Cat Deeley, who has hosted the display since 2006, will go back as emcee.
The addition of Siwa to the season 18 lineup comes in a while after Lythgoe, 74, exited the collection within the wake of a couple of sexual attack complaints. Us Weekly showed in December 2023 that Lythgoe, who served as a pass judgement on and govt manufacturer on SYTYCD since its premiere in 2005, used to be being sued by means of Paula Abdul.
In courtroom paperwork got by means of Rolling Stone, Abdul, 61, claimed that Lythgoe assaulted her a couple of instances over time whilst the pair labored in combination on American Idol and SYTYCD.
Abdul’s go well with alleges that Lythgoe “verbally insulted and belittled” her previous to taking her American Idol gig and that he endured to bully her all over her time at the making a song pageant collection. It additionally claims that he sexually assaulted her in a lodge elevator whilst touring for Idol auditions. (She didn't specify when the alleged incident happened.)
“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,” the courtroom paperwork learn. “Abdul quickly called one of her representatives in tears to inform them of the assault.”
Following her time on Idol, Abdul in short joined the judging panel of So You Assume You Can Dance. Somewhere else within the lawsuit, it claims that she witnessed Lythgoe sexually attack considered one of her assistants with out consent.
Lythgoe has denied the allegations. “To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” he mentioned in a remark to Us ultimate month. “For more than two decades, Paula and I have interacted as dear — and entirely platonic — friends and colleagues. Yesterday, however, out of the blue, I learned of these claims in the press and I want to be clear: not only are they false, they are deeply offensive to me and to everything I stand for.”
He endured, “While Paula’s history of erratic behavior is well known, I can’t pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue. But I can promise that I will fight this appalling smear with everything I have.”
Previous this month, a 2d lawsuit used to be filed towards Lythgoe by means of two contestants at the 2003 pageant collection All American Woman. The 2 girls accused him of forcibly seeking to kiss them after a wrap birthday party in 2003.