Nigel Lythgoe, a former “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance” producer, is dealing with one other sexual assault lawsuit, simply days after former “Idol” decide Paul Abdul made related accusations towards him.
The go well with, obtained Tuesday by a number of media retailers, was filed on the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles by two girls recognized solely as Jane Does. The girls accused Lythgoe of sexual assault/battery, sexual harassment, negligence, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional misery.
The plaintiffs had been reportedly contestants on “All American Girl,” a single-season ABC actuality present from 2003 that Lythgoe produced.
The lawsuit notes that filming for the present occurred in Los Angeles between January and May 2003, throughout which era Lythgoe ― reportedly referred within the submitting as “John Roe N.L.” ― allegedly made undesirable “sexual advances” after a wrap social gathering.
The plaintiffs say Lythgoe took an “unusual interest” in one in every of them and “insisted” that she “ride in his car to go back to the studio where everyone else was going” for an afterparty. The different girl allegedly adopted “to ensure her colleague was not left alone.”
The former “Idol” producer allegedly took the ladies to his house and pulled his sweater over one of many girls’s heads, “attempting to kiss her and pushing her body close to his.” He allegedly pinned the opposite girl towards a grand piano when his first advance was rejected.
Lythgoe is alleged to have “pushed himself against [the second woman’s] body, and forced his mouth and tongue onto her despite her numerous statements telling him not to and attempts to pull her face away from his.” Lythgoe additionally allegedly groped the ladies on the set of the present.
Representatives for Lythgoe didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.
Abdul, who was one of many unique “Idol” judges from 2002 to 2009, claimed in her personal lawsuit final week that Lythgoe sexually assaulted her throughout the present’s early seasons and as soon as extra throughout her 2013-2016 tenure on “Dance.” Lythgoe denied her claims.
“To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” he stated in a press release. “For more than two decades, Paula and I have interacted as dear — and entirely platonic — friends and colleagues.”
“While Paula’s history of erratic behavior is well known, I can’t pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue,” Lythgoe went on. “But I can promise that I will fight this appalling smear with everything I have.”
Abdul sued previous to Sunday’s expiration of the Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act, which allows civil fits on claims that might in any other case be dismissed because of the statute of limitations. However, Tuesday’s plaintiffs filed go well with after the expiration of the Accountability Act, which suggests they might have waited too lengthy below California’s customary 10-year statute of limitations.
Need assist? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s web site.
