Just days after Paula Abdul sued “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance” producer Nigel Lythgoe for alleged sexual assault, Lythgoe is facing a new lawsuit from two Jane Does who claim he forced himself on them while they were contestants on his 2003 reality game show “All American Girl.”
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, begins with the allegation Lythgoe “openly swatted and groped” the two plaintiffs’ buttocks as he roamed around the show’s set while contestants were dressed in dance costumes. The 14-page complaint obtained by Rolling Stone goes on to claim Lythgoe took an “unusual interest” in the plaintiff identified as Jane Doe K.N. after a wrap party for the show in May 2003.
According to the filing, which identifies Lythgoe by his initials, fellow plaintiff Jane Doe K.G. noticed the overt attention, especially when Lythgoe “insisted” Jane Doe K.N. ride in his personal car from the wrap party back to the studio. “Plaintiff K.G. saw this and decided to go with them to ensure her colleague was not left alone,” the complaint says. “Instead of driving Plaintiffs back to the studio where everybody else was going, Defendant N.L. took Plaintiffs to a home in Los Angeles. There, Defendant N.L. made sexual advances on Plaintiff K.G and K.N.”
The lawsuit alleges the women rejected the advances, but Lythgoe didn’t stop. “At one point, Defendant N.L. lifted his sweater over Plaintiff K.G.’s head and engulfed her in his sweater, attempting to kiss her and pushing her body close to his,” the lawsuit alleges, adding that Jane Doe K.G. again rejected the overture and “scrambled” to get away.
“Later that night, Defendant N.L. pinned Plaintiff K.N. against a grand piano in the house, pushed himself against her body, and forced his mouth and tongue onto her despite her numerous statements telling him not to and attempts to pull her face away from his,” the filing reads. “When Plaintiff K.G. saw this and protested, Defendant N.L. finally surrendered.”
Attempts to reach a spokesperson for Lythgoe were not immediately successful Tuesday evening. Though the lawsuit identifies the show by its initials, A.A.G., the show matches the dates and details in the filing that was first reported by TMZ. The short-lived reality show executive produced by Lithgoe aired its finale on ABC Family on May 24, 2003.
Last Friday, Abdul filed her separate lawsuit against Lythgoe, alleging he sexually assaulted her in a hotel elevator during one of American Idol’s “initial seasons” in the early 2000s. “Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and began shoving his tongue down her throat,” the lawsuit also filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court said. “Abdul attempted to push Lythgoe away from her. When the doors to the elevator for her door opened, Abdul ran out of the elevator and to her hotel room. Abdul quickly called one of her representatives in tears to inform them of the assault,” the suit alleged.
In a statement to The New York Times, Lythgoe denied Abdul’s allegations, calling them an “appalling smear.”
“To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” he said in the statement published Saturday. “For more than two decades, Paula and I have interacted as dear — and entirely platonic — friends and colleagues. Yesterday, however, out of the blue, I learned of these claims in the press and I want to be clear: Not only are they false, they are deeply offensive to me and to everything I stand for.” He added that he could not “pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue.”
The new lawsuit filed Tuesday makes claims of sexual assault and battery, sexual harassment, negligence, gender violence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Lythgoe and an unidentified production company he helmed at the time of the alleged assaults. It alleges Lythgoe’s actions were “beyond the bounds of decency” and caused the plaintiffs “to suffer mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, physical and emotional distress, anxiety and fear.”
