The former judge of American Idol has filed a suit against Nigel Lythgoe for multiple counts of sexual assault, and the new suit was filed on Friday in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. The Grammy winner and Nigel had worked together as he was the executive producer of both shows, and Paula was a judge.
According to the suit filed, Nigel had tried to sexually assault or batter her twice. Firstly, during the early seasons of American Idol, and secondly, during her tenure as judge on SYTYCD. The suit has not been filed against the doer, Nigel Lythgoe, but also against the defendants who covered it up for him.
Paula Abdul files a suit against Nigel Lythgoe for sexual assault.
The pop singer Paula Abdul, the former judge of American Idol, has accused Nigel Lythgoe, the executive producer of SYTYCD, of multiple sexual assaults on her. Along with that, she has also accused him of sexually assaulting her assistant.
According to the former judge of SYTYCD, she was sexually assaulted two times by Nigel Lythgoe, once when she was one of the original judges of American Idol from 2002–2009 and the other time during her tenure as a judge of SYTYCD, which aired between 2013 and 2016.
As per her suit, Paula has also sued the defendants for sexual assault, sexual harassment, gender, and negligence. She has accused 19 Entertainment, Inc., Fox Media North America, Inc., American Idol Productions, Inc., and Dance Nation Products, Inc. of being defendants in the suit.
Paula has filed the suit under the Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act, which gives the sexual assault victim the allowance to sue even after the statute of limitations has already expired from the date of the sexual assault, sexual harassment, gender violence, and negligence.
Based on the suit filed, Paula was not only sexually assaulted but was also a victim of being “verbally insulted and belittled” by Lythgoe, and in 2001, during a meeting about the “Idol” job, he had called her a “has been.” The suits alleged that Paula was paid less than, and even the share of profits was not shared with her like her male peers.
As the suit says, on the first of the two occasions, Paula was sexually assaulted by Lythgoe while being on the ‘road’ for an idol regional audition.
The filed suit claims they were in an elevator of the hotel when “Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts and began shoving his tongue down her throat.” Further, the documents have added that “Abdul attempted to push Lythgoe away from her and let him know that his behavior was not acceptable.”
Per the suit, following the assault, Paula had called a representative of hers and explained the whole incident to her, but she chose to be quiet due to the fear that Lythgoe would have fired her from American Idol.
According to the suit, the second assault had allegedly taken place in 2015, when Paula was a judge of SYTYCD and was invited to a dinner at Lythgoe’s place, which she had mistakenly attended, “believing this to be a professional invitation.”
On finding Paula alone, Lythgoe, per the suit, had allegedly “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. “
The filing claims that she “pushed Lythgoe off her, explaining that she was not interested in his advances,” and left his place as soon as possible following the assault.
In addition to being a victim, Paula is also a witness to sexual assault by Lythgoe. She has claimed that Lythgoe groped her assistant (identified as ‘April’ in the suit) the same year. Still, she chose silence because of the fear of retaliation and the fact that Lythgoe would call her to celebrate “seven years after the statute of limitations had run.”
Usually, the statute of limitations gives allowance to the victim of sexual abuse for claims that occurred on or after the 18th birthday of 10 years or within three years from the day the victim gets assaulted.
On January 1, 2023, the Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act (Assembly Bill 2777) officially became law and opened a three-year window (1 January 2023–31 December 2026). It gives victims an allowance to claim damages as a result of crimes that took place on or after January 1, 2009.
