On the identical day Nigel Lythgoe answered Paula Abdul’s sexual assault criticism, calling the singer and former American Idol decide a “fabulist,” the embattled TV producer was hit with yet one more lawsuit — this time from a Jane Doe accuser claiming he sexually battered her at his dwelling in 2018.
The brand new accuser claims she first met Lythgoe in 2003 at knowledgeable occasion and was at his dwelling in April 2018 for a “skilled” assembly when he allegedly pounced with out warning. “After a couple of minutes {of professional} discourse, Lythgoe abruptly pressured plaintiff towards the property’s exterior aspect wall by shoving his knee between her legs after which began licking plaintiff’s neck, touching her genitalia and groping her throughout. Plaintiff tried to push Lythgoe away from her however he had her pinned towards the wall in order that she couldn’t transfer,” the partially redacted criticism filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket alleges.
The brand new accuser claims she ultimately broke free from Lythgoe and fled the property earlier than pulling over in her automotive a few block away. “Plaintiff then sat in her automotive shaking and crying for roughly thirty minutes earlier than she was in a position to drive the rest of the best way dwelling,” the submitting states. Doe says the alleged incident left her felling “horribly violated” and that she has suffered “extreme emotional and psychological misery, guilt, humiliation and embarrassment.”
A consultant for Lythgoe had no speedy remark Tuesday. The brand new lawsuit comes after Abdul sued Lythgoe in December, alleging he attacked her in an elevator throughout one among American Idol’s preliminary seasons.
“Lythgoe shoved Abdul towards the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and started shoving his tongue down her throat,” that go well with claims. “Abdul tried to push Lythgoe away from her. When the doorways to the elevator for her door opened, Abdul ran out of the elevator and to her resort room. Abdul shortly referred to as one among her representatives in tears to tell them of the assault.”
Lythgoe denied Abdul’s allegations in a press release on the time, calling them an “appalling smear.” In early January, he was sued once more by two Jane Does who claimed he pressured himself on them whereas they had been contestants on his 2003 actuality recreation present, All American Woman. A 3rd lawsuit reportedly was filed final month with a Jane Doe accuser alleging Lythgoe forcibly touched her in a automotive in 2016. A lawyer for Lythgoe advised Rolling Stone that the alleged automotive incident “by no means occurred.”
In his 22-page reply to Abdul’s lawsuit filed Tuesday, Lythgoe, 74, referred to as her allegations “false, despicable, insupportable, and life-changing.” He included excerpts from purported private emails courting again to 2014 and 2015 wherein Abdul allegedly expressed heat emotions towards him and referred to as him “sweetheart.”
“These allegations are the worst type of character assassination,” his submitting obtained by Rolling Stone states. “Abdul is a well-documented fabulist, with a protracted historical past of telling wild tales which can be untethered from actuality and are primarily designed to draw consideration and make Abdul look like the sufferer of dreadful misfortune. True to kind, Abdul’s accusations about Lythgoe are pure fiction.”
Within the submitting, Lythgoe alleges Abdul appeared on TV throughout her time on American Idol and fabricated a narrative about struggling accidents in a airplane crash in 1992. “Supposed particulars about this alleged crash have modified numerous occasions through the years, however, in each occasion, Abdul’s representations about that supposed airplane crash have been implausible,” his submitting claims. “There aren’t any data in anyway of the supposed airplane crash.”
Rolling Stone‘s makes an attempt to achieve Abdul’s lawyer weren’t instantly profitable on Tuesday. Lythgoe, co-creator of So You Suppose You Can Dance and government producer since the present first aired in 2005, stepped down from his publish on the present following the preliminary two lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. Producers later introduced that JoJo Siwa, who served as a decide on the present in 2022, can be changing Lythgoe and returning as a decide for the upcoming season.
