Nigel Lythgoe is facing a new sexual assault charge just days after Paula Abdul accused him of multiple counts of sexual assault.
According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, ex So you think you can dance judge, 74, is accused of negligence, sexual assault/battery, sexual harassment, gender-based violence and intentional infliction of emotional pain by two contestants on the 2003 women’s competition reality show. All American girls.
On Tuesday, the women filed a lawsuit against Lythgoe and an unnamed production company in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County, and are identified as Jane Does. TMZ reported that the reality show and Lythgoe are addressed as parties in the lawsuit as “John Roe NL” and “AGG,” citing sources.
A representative for Lythgoe did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Nigel Lythgoe says Paula Abdul’s sexual assault allegations against him are ‘false’ and ‘deeply offensive’
Nigel Lythgoe in June 2023.
Corine Solberg/Getty
The suit alleges that Lythgoe frequently interacted with the contestants and, on one occasion, “walked around the set and dressing rooms and openly hit and groped the buttocks of the plaintiff and other contestants” while they were wearing dance costumes.
The women claim that his behavior was “openly condoned” because “employees, contractors, representatives and agents saw it happen but did not act in any way to condemn the action or prevent it from happening again.”
The lawsuit alleges that filming took place in Los Angeles from January 2003 to May 2003 and alleges that Lythgoe made unwanted “sexual assaults” on the women after the closing party.
Lythgoe allegedly showed an “unusual interest” in one of the women and “insisted” that she “take a ride in his car to go back to the studio where everyone else was going” after the party. Another woman saw this and “decided to go with them to ensure that her colleague was not left alone,” the lawsuit states.
Former American Idol the producer allegedly took the women to his home in Los Angeles, where they claimed they rejected his advances.
Paula Abdul Sues American Idol, SYTYCD Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe for alleged sexual assault
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Nigel Lythgoe in December 2023.
Phillip Faraone/Getty
Lythgoe is said to have lifted his sweater over one woman’s head, “trying to kiss her and pushing her body against his”, and she allegedly “scrambling to free herself from his grip”.
He allegedly pinned another woman “to the piano in the house, pushed against her body and forced his mouth and tongue on her despite her numerous statements telling him not to and attempts to move her face away from his” later that same night .
Abdul, 61, claims Lythgoe sexually assaulted him while they were working together. In her lawsuit filed Friday, she alleged that Lythgoe once sexually assaulted her during the early seasons Idol and once during her tenure at SYTYCD. She also accused him of sexually abusing her assistant.
Lythgoe denied the claims in a statement to TMZ.
“I want to be clear: not only are they false, they are deeply offensive to me and everything I stand for… I can’t pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue,” he said. “But I can promise to fight this horrible stain with everything I have.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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Source: HIS Education