\n<\/p>\n
Paula Abdul filed a lawsuit on Friday against Nigel Lythgoe, a former longtime producer of \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d accusing him of sexually assaulting her when she was a judge on the reality show in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n
In the lawsuit, Ms. Abdul says that during one of the early seasons of \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d Mr. Lythgoe shoved her against the wall of a hotel elevator, grabbed her genitals and breasts and began \u201cshoving his tongue down her throat.\u201d Ms. Abdul said in the lawsuit that she tried to push Mr. Lythgoe away, and that when the elevator doors opened, she ran to her hotel room and called one of her representatives in tears.<\/p>\n
Mr. Lythgoe helped turn \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d into a phenomenon in the United States in 2002 after developing an earlier iteration of the show in Britain. He was also a creator of \u201cSo You Think You Can Dance,\u201d on which he appeared as a judge for 16 seasons.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Lythgoe denied the allegations, saying that he would \u201cfight this appalling smear with everything I have.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cTo say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,\u201d Mr. Lythgoe said in the statement. \u201cFor more than two decades, Paula and I have interacted as dear \u2014 and entirely platonic \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that he could not \u201cpretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Mr. Lythgoe and Ms. Abdul, who rose to fame as a choreographer and pop star in the late 1980s, became fixtures of American reality television as judges with the power to turn promising singers and dancers into stars. Ms. Abdul spent eight seasons on \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d entertaining viewers with her gushing commentary and playful rivalry with her fellow judge Simon Cowell.<\/p>\n
After leaving \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d Ms. Abdul was a judge on \u201cSo You Think You Can Dance,\u201d working alongside Mr. Lythgoe in 2015 and 2016. She says in the lawsuit that Mr. Lythgoe again made advances during this time, while she was at his home to discuss work.<\/p>\n
\u201cLythgoe 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 \u2018power couple,\u2019\u201d the lawsuit said. \u201cAbdul pushed Lythgoe off of her, explaining that she was not interested in his advances, and immediately left Lythgoe\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, said Ms. Abdul did not speak publicly about the encounters because she feared retaliation from Mr. Lythgoe.<\/p>\n
Ms. Abdul is suing under a California law<\/a> that allows people making sexual assault accusations to file claims outside the statute of limitations for a limited period of time.<\/p>\n In her lawsuit, Ms. Abdul, 61, also accused Mr. Lythgoe, 74, of verbal harassment, saying that he called her at one point and told her they should celebrate because \u201cit had been \u2018seven years and the statute of limitations had run.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Abdul also brought the lawsuit against production companies behind \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d and \u201cSo You Think You Can Dance,\u201d accusing them of negligence. Representatives for the shows and the production companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n When Ms. Abdul left \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d in 2009<\/a>, there was speculation that her exit was the result of disagreements about pay disparities<\/a> with the show\u2019s male faces.<\/p>\n In her lawsuit, Ms. Abdul says that as a judge on \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d she was \u201cdiscriminated against in terms of compensation and benefits.\u201d She describes her relationship with the show\u2019s producers and other judges as \u201cstrained from the start,\u201d saying that she was the target of \u201cconstant taunts\u201d from Mr. Lythgoe and others involved in the show and that selective editing made her appear \u201cinept.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Lythgoe was a largely behind-the-scenes figure with \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d leaving as an executive producer of the show about a decade ago, but he has been center stage on \u201cSo You Think You Can Dance,\u201d turning himself into a performing arts impresario and advocate for dance education. He is scheduled to return as a judge in the spring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n