‘American Idol’ star Paula Abdul sues producer Nigel Lythgoe for sexual assault By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Paula Abdul arrives for the premiere of the movie Prey, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. August 2, 2022. REUTERS/David Swanson/File Photograph

(Reuters) – U.S. singer, dancer and “American Idol” star Paula Abdul filed a lawsuit accusing British tv govt Nigel Lythgoe of sexually assaulting her after they labored collectively on two widespread expertise exhibits, in keeping with court docket paperwork.

Abdul, who rose to fame as a chart-topping singer within the late Nineteen Eighties, alleged in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket on Friday that Lythgoe sexually assaulted her in an elevator in the course of the early seasons of TV singing competitors collection “American Idol.”

Lythgoe, the producer of a number of hit tv expertise competitions, allegedly groped Abdul’s breasts and genitals, amongst different undesirable bodily contact in a lodge elevator after a day of auditions for “American Idol.” Abdul tried to push him away and ran as quickly because the elevator doorways opened, court docket paperwork stated.

Reuters was not instantly in a position to attain Abdul or Lythgoe for remark.

Lythogoe denied the allegations, in keeping with TMZ.

“For greater than twenty years, Paula and I’ve interacted as expensive — and fully platonic — pals and colleagues,” he instructed TMZ. “Yesterday, nevertheless, out of the blue, I realized 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 the whole lot I stand for.”

In line with court docket paperwork, Abdul instantly reported the assault by Lythgoe, an “American Idol” producer on the time, to her representatives however didn’t take motion for concern of dropping her job, the lawsuit stated.

Furthermore, Abdul’s contracts prohibited her from talking out, the lawsuit stated.

One other alleged assault came about years later when Abdul labored as a decide on “So You Suppose You Can Dance,” in keeping with court docket paperwork. The star, 61, loved renewed reputation within the early 2000s starring as a decide on expertise TV collection.

The lawsuit alleges Lythgoe, 74, assaulted her on the sofa of his Los Angeles house after a piece dinner. Abdul once more firmly rejected him and “instantly left Lythgoe’s house,” court docket paperwork stated.

Within the lawsuit, Abdul ranges different allegations on the leisure trade mogul, together with that Lythgoe as soon as known as to taunt her and stated it had been “seven years and the statute of limitations had run” on the alleged assaults.

The lawsuit alleged that the star additionally witnessed Lythgoe assault one in all her assistants on “So You Suppose You Can Dance.”

The lawsuit was submitted days earlier than the Dec. 31 submitting deadline established beneath the California’s Sexual Abuse and Cowl-Up Accountability Act. The laws permits people to carry sure sexual abuse lawsuits that may in any other case have fallen outdoors the statute of limitations.