Paula Abdul Sues Nigel Lythgoe For Multiple Sexual Assaults; Alleged Attacks Occurred On ‘American Idol’ & ‘SYTYCD’

deadline.com:

Less than 72 hours before California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act expires, Paula Abdul today filed a sexual assault and gender violence lawsuit against American Idol EP and So You Think You Can Dance judge Nigel Lythgoe over multiple alleged attacks. “Lythgoe knew and was aware that his treatment of Abdul was inappropriate and even criminal,” the Grammy winner says of the British producer’s allegedly well known “indecent conduct” in the four-claim complaint filed today in LA Superior Court. “Indeed at one point Lythgoe called Abdul and taunted her that they should celebrate because it had been ‘seven years and the statute of limitations had run,’” the jury trial seeking filing goes on to state. “Lythgoe clearly knew that his assaults of Abdul were not just wrong but that he held the power to keep her silent.” “For years, Abdul has remained silent about the sexual assaults and harassment she experienced on account of Lythgoe due to fear of speaking out against one of the most well-known producers of television competition shows who could easily break her career as a television personality and of being ostracized and blackballed by an industry that had a pattern of protecting powerful men and silencing survivors of sexual assault and harassment,” the 2002 – 2009 Idol judge and 2015 – 2017 SYTYCD judge declares. “In addition, the contracts Abdul signed to appear on American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, which were drafted by entities with which Lythgoe was associated, prohibited Abdul from publicly discussing anything that might be deemed ‘confidential business information’ (including information about the judges, hosts or production entities or staff) and/or which could be perceived as