Paula Abdul filed a lawsuit on Friday against former “American Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe, accusing him of sexually assaulting her during her time as a judge on the show in the early 2000s.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Abdul, who served as a judge on “American Idol” from 2002 to 2009 and on “So You Think You Can Dance” in 2015-16, claimed that Lythgoe assaulted her in an elevator and at his home.
In addition to the allegations of sexual assault, the lawsuit also claims that Abdul experienced bullying, harassment, and gender pay discrimination while working on the popular shows, according to Variety.
Nigel Lythgoe reacts
In an emailed statement from a representative, Lythgoe said that Abdul’s allegations were “deeply offensive.”
“To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” Lythgoe said. “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.
“While Paula’s history of erratic behaviour 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.”
Representatives for Abdul and Lythgoe did not immediately respond to requests for comment from multiple media outlets.
According to the lawsuit, Abdul’s contracts on the shows prohibited her from disclosing confidential or derogatory information about other judges, hosts or producers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“For years, Abdul has remained silent about the sexual assaults and harassment she experienced on account of Lythgoe due to fear of speaking out against one of the most well-known producers of television competition shows who could easily break her career as a television personality and of being ostracized and blackballed by an industry that had a pattern of protecting powerful men and silencing survivors of sexual assault and harassment,” the lawsuit states, according to Variety.
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