Nothing screams drama like reality shows; the endless confrontations, clashes of egos, and broken personalities are the seeder grounds for all kinds of pieces of news that range from the banal and menial, pass through happy and entertaining, and end up in shock, awe and in the case, we’re going to cover, in court proceedings. We’re talking about the feud between Dance Moms Paige and Abby, who never saw eye to eye in the reality show, and stemming from that arose a rivalry that dragged the two of them in front of a judge to settle a dispute.
It seems as though sometimes egos and confrontations in reality television shows go too far. As it turns out, Paige took Abby to court back in 2014, and the lawsuit made its way through the courts into the court of public opinion. It’s been nine years since the court proceedings started, so we need to make sense of how these two couldn’t get along and managed to go to court to see if they can solve their differences. So, let’s go inside the details of the lawsuit put forward by Paige Hyland against her former teacher Abby.
Why Did Paige Sue Abby From Dance Moms?
Paige Hyland took Abby Sue Miller to court on the grounds of abusive behavior towards her students. Hyland stated that Abby had the habit of pinching students, hitting them, and getting physical with them on set. Moreover, the lawsuit claims that Abby’s abusive behavior was directed toward Paige when her parents weren’t around.
The claim states that Abby would hurl chairs, terrorize the young ones and say demeaning things to others, and it goes further in claiming that Abby was paid for those kinds of behavior in the Lifetime show that began airing back in 2011 and featured Abby Lee handling day to day operations at her dance company.
Also Read: Why Did JoJo Siwa Leave Dance Moms? Reason Behind It
How Did The Lawsuit Fare In Court?
The lawsuit was eventually dismissed by Judge Ruth Ann Kwan in a Los Angeles court back in July 2015 because the claim had insufficient evidence to hold water if the matter went to trial. Still, what was evident was that the disagreements and fights between Paige and Abby were pervasive on-screen and off-screen. Moreover, it’s not the first time Abby Lee Miller went to court for abusive behavior because Paige’s mom also took Abby to court, claiming that she had hit, bitten, and defamed her, calling her an alcoholic woman unfit to raise a child.
As if that’s not enough, Paige’s mom took the studio that produced the reality show to court for breaching their contract. These strings of lawsuits shed light on the tense environment in which the show unfolded, a group of participants with great flaws of character in positions of power with the ability to inflict sheer amounts of psychological distress on others ones, in this case, little girls dancing at a competition. It’s the kind of fertile ground for unethical tv producers to encourage the types of fights we see on Dance Moms.
Reality Shows Should Have Some Ethical Producers
While reality tv can be wildly entertaining and is very popular, the entertainment industry is under scrutiny for exploiting contestants just for the sake of shock value and ratings. In consequence, there’s the need for reality show producers to have some sort of ethical code of conduct when it comes to shooting, producing, and developing their programs to ensure that contestants and participants won’t become traumatized for the sake of profits.
A lack of ethics in reality shows can harm contestants emotionally and mentally, such as in the case of what we just covered with Paige and Abby Lee, with the claims of the latter getting paid to be mean to little girls at a dancing contest. It’s fair enough to say that some reality shows are scripted, and the alleged reactions of those in them are staged and fake af. But the line on the sand gets drawn when not only is credibility set aside but also the health and wellness of others.
Also Read: What Episode Does Kelly Hit Abby? The Dance Moms Fight
