- By Yasmin Rufo
- Cultural reporter
3 hours ago
British TV executive Nigel Lythgoe is accused of sexual assault and battery in a new lawsuit.
An unnamed woman has accused Lythgoe, a former judge on US TV series So You Think You Can Dance, of “groping her all over her body” after pinning her against a wall.
It is the fourth lawsuit against the 74-year-old in recent months, including that of US singer Paula Abdul.
He has denied all previous allegations and his representatives made no comment to US media about the latest lawsuit.
The BBC has contacted its representatives for a response.
Court documents filed in Los Angeles say the woman felt “terribly violated” and suffered “severe emotional and psychological distress” after the alleged assault in 2018.
Her lawyer Melissa Eubanks said: “Mr Lythgoe allegedly forced himself on our client during what was supposed to be a business meeting and then ended the relationship when she did not comply.”
The case came after two former contestants on the show “All American Girl,” of which Lythgoe was a producer, sued him in January alleging sexual assault.
Meanwhile, Abdul claims the TV mogul attacked her while the two were working together on American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance.
Image source: Getty Images
image description,
Paula Abdul claims that Nigel Lythgoe (above left) first attacked her during an early season of American Idol
In his response to Abdul, filed this week and reported by US media, he called the singer a “well-documented fabulist who has a long history of telling wild stories that have nothing to do with reality and are aimed primarily at it.” , to attract attention and make Abdul appear “victim of a terrible misfortune”.
He strenuously denied her claims, calling them “false, despicable, intolerable and life-altering” and describing them as “the worst form of character assassination.”
Lythgoe was an executive producer on Pop Idol and American Idol and also served as an on-screen judge on Popstars in the UK and So You Think You Can Dance in the US.
In January, he stepped down from So You Think You Can Dance “with a heavy heart.”