By Noor NanjiTradition reporter
BABC LATwo former contestants on All American Lady are suing British tv government Nigel Lythgoe over alleged sexual assault, in accordance with US media.
The lawsuit claims that Lythgoe “overtly groped” them throughout filming of the sequence in 2003 and made undesirable advances after the present ended.
It comes days after US singer Paula Abdul additionally sued him, claiming a number of situations of assault.
The BBC has contacted Lythgoe’s representatives for a response.
Final week, he denied abusing Abdul, saying he was “shocked” by the allegations.
Lythgoe, 74, was an government producer of Pop Idol and American Idol and has additionally acted as an on-screen decide on a number of expertise programmes himself.
He was additionally a producer of All American Lady, a expertise competitors which aired for one sequence in 2003.
He has not been named within the court docket paperwork, which have been seen by the BBC, however US media say they’ve verified it’s him.
In keeping with the paperwork, the 2 girls declare he would repeatedly flip up of their dressing rooms and “overtly swatted and groped” their bottoms whereas they had been sporting dance costumes.
The ladies additionally allege that Lythgoe took each of them again to his residence in Los Angeles following a celebration after the present’s finale, the place he’s mentioned to have made undesirable sexual advances on them.
One lady says he “engulfed her in his sweater” and tried to kiss her, which she rejected.
The opposite alleges he pinned her towards a grand piano and tried to drive his tongue into her mouth.
Each girls, who’ve filed the swimsuit anonymously, are suing him for alleged sexual assault and battery, sexual harassment, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional misery.
Getty PicturesThe TV mogul can also be being sued by Abdul, who claims the alleged assaults occurred whereas the pair labored collectively on American Idol and So You Suppose You Can Dance.
Lythgoe was an government producer of the singing competitors and a co-judge on the dancing programme.
Abdul alleges the primary occasion of assault occurred throughout one of many “preliminary seasons” of American Idol within the early 2000s, in accordance with court docket paperwork seen by the BBC.
The lawsuit claims Lythgoe assaulted her in an elevator whereas on the street throughout regional auditions for the favored expertise programme.
She was capable of escape from her boss when the doorways opened, and he or she instantly knowledgeable her representatives from her lodge room, the lawsuit says.
The following occurred over a decade later, Abdul claims, throughout what paperwork say she thought was an expert assembly at his residence.
She claims he compelled himself on her, and informed her they’d make a wonderful “energy couple”, to which she responded by pushing him off and explaining that she was not eager about his advances.
That very same yr, Abdul claims she witnessed Lythgoe assault one in every of her assistants through the filming of So You Suppose You Can Dance in Las Vegas.
The lawsuit additionally claims Lythgoe “taunted” her by calling her and saying the pair ought to have fun as a result of it had been “seven years and the statute of limitations had run”.
In a press release to US media final week, Lythgoe insisted the connection between the 2 had all the time been one in every of “expensive – and fully platonic – associates and colleagues”.
“I realized of those claims within the press and I wish to be clear: not solely are they false, they’re deeply offensive to me and to every thing I stand for,” he mentioned. “I can promise that I’ll combat this appalling smear with every thing I’ve.”
