Paula Abdul has settled a lawsuit that she filed towards Nigel Lythgoe, a tv producer, accusing him of sexually assaulting her once they labored collectively on “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance.”
A discover of settlement was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, ending a case that had resulted in Mr. Lythgoe’s exit this 12 months as a decide on “So You Think You Can Dance,” a present he helped create. He had vehemently denied the accusations and was combating the lawsuit in court docket.
The particulars of the settlement weren’t disclosed. In a press release, Ms. Abdul mentioned that she was “grateful that this chapter has efficiently come to a detailed and is now one thing I can now put behind me.”
Mr. Lythgoe, who was one of many producers who made “American Idol” a phenomenon within the United States, mentioned in a press release that, like Ms. Abdul, he was glad to place the difficulty behind him. “We reside in a troubling time the place an individual is now routinely assumed to be responsible till confirmed harmless, a course of that may take years,” he mentioned.
He mentioned within the assertion that “I do know the reality and that provides me nice consolation.”
In Ms. Abdul’s lawsuit, which was filed late final 12 months, she mentioned that in one of many early seasons of “American Idol,” which premiered in 2002, Mr. Lythgoe shoved her towards the wall of a lodge elevator, grabbed her genitals and breasts and started “shoving his tongue down her throat.”
After leaving “American Idol” she joined Mr. Lythgoe as a decide on “So You Think You Can Dance” in 2015 and 2016, and her lawsuit mentioned that he once more made advances throughout that point. She alleged within the go well with that Mr. Lythgoe assaulted her once more when she visited his dwelling to debate work, accusing him of groping her breasts and buttocks whereas attempting to kiss her. The go well with mentioned she didn’t report the encounter out of worry of retaliation.
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