Entertainment
Nigel Lythgoe claims Paula Abdul ‘fabricated allegations’ and accuses her of ‘character assassination’
Paula Abdul claims Nigel Lythgoe sexually assaulted her twice.
April 16, 2024, published at 2:00 PM ET
Nigel Lythgoe wants his day in court to fight it out with his former friend Paula Abdul. In documents obtained by RadarOnline.comThe embattled television executive, 74, is demanding a jury trial which he says could last 12 days to challenge Abdul’s “baseless” claims of sexual assault. He also accuses her of ‘character assassination’.
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Paula filed a lawsuit against Nigel in December 2023.
As this outlet reported, the Upright singer, 61, accused Lythgoe in December 2023, claiming he allegedly assaulted her twice during her bouts American Idol And So you think you can dance.
But Lythgoe called her claims against him “purely fictitious” in the latest court documents filed Monday.
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He alleged that she had “fabricated” the allegations which “amount to an unwarranted and unwarranted character assassination, with careless disregard for the legal authority that prematurely made these allegations.”
Remember, Abdul filed her lawsuit under the Sexual Assault and Concealment of Responsibility Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2023, giving adult survivors more time to pursue legal action in cases with expired statutes of limitations.
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Nigel denied her allegations, claiming she had provided “absolutely no corroborating evidence” to support them.
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However, Lythgoe said Abdul has provided “absolutely no corroborating evidence” to support her claims, stating that both alleged incidents – which she said took place at a hotel after a recording of Idol and in his house while they were judges SYTYCD – “didn’t happen.” Not only did he insist that this had not happened, but he also emphasized that the pair “continued to work together on several new ventures, as well as remaining personal friends” after the dates of her claims.
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“Plaintiff is seeking to revive her expired claims under the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act (the “Act”), which became law last year and allows adult claimants who meet certain criteria more time to pursue expired claims the complaint fails to allege facts necessary to come within the scope of that statute, and these defects are not curable,” Lythgoe said in the latest legal filing.
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Nigel Lythgoe
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RadarOnline.com published private text messages between the two, in which Nigel begged her to “jump naked in the pool with me.”
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“Among other things, Plaintiff did not (and could not) allege a ‘cover-up’ as required by law, and in relation to the alleged 2015 incident, she did not allege ‘sexual assault’ under that law. Plaintiff had met the requirements to revive a claim under the Act, which she did not and cannot do. She still could not revive her claims against Mr. Lythgoe, an individual defendant, based on the alleged 2002 incident because only claims against entities can be revived under this provision.”
Lythgoe vowed that he will “prove the falsity of these allegations and the prosecutor’s improper motives for bringing them” when he goes to trial.
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We first told you what Abdul accused Lythgoe of “victim shaming” her, claiming that he ‘lifted’ their private correspondents’ emails to ‘discredit her claims’. RadarOnline.com too broke the story – publishing several text messages between the two, in which Lythgoe begged her to “jump naked in the pool with me” and “make love carefully before my drugs wear off.”
Abdul is not the only one to sue Lythgoe for alleged assault.
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Paula isn’t the only one to come forward with allegations against Nigel.
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Three other women have done the same come up with accusations against the SYTYCD executive – who recently resigned from his position on the competitive dance show.
