Two more women are accusing Nigel Lythgoe of sexual assault, just days after Paula Abdul filed a lawsuit claiming she was twice sexually assaulted by the former “So You Think You Can Dance” judge.
Accusers Jane Doe K.G. and Jane Doe K.N., who were both “contestants” on the Lythgoe-produced show “All American Girl,” said they suffered sexual assault/battery, sexual harassment and negligence at the hands of Lythgoe after the series finale party in May 2003, according to the civil suit filed Tuesday and obtained by Deadline.
The women are seeking a slew of damages in response to the complaint against Lythgoe, who is identified in the suit only as John Roe N.L.
The suit accuses Lythgoe of having “openly swatted and groped Plaintiffs’ and other contestants’ buttocks.”
He also, according to the suit, drove the pair to a home in Los Angeles following the aforementioned after-party instead of “the studio where everyone else was going.” There, Lythgoe “made sexual advances,” according to the complaint.
Though the women rebuffed him, they say Lythgoe “persisted and continued making advances.” At one point, the filing alleges, Lythgoe “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,” before she “scrambled to release herself from his grasp.”
Ex-“Idol” judge Abdul, 61, filed a sexual assault and gender violence lawsuit last week alleging assault by Lythgoe, whom she says “was aware” his behavior was “inappropriate and even criminal,” per Deadline.
The first alleged incident occurred in the early days of “Idol,” during which Abdul says Lythgoe “shoved” her “against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and began shoving his tongue down her throat,” per People. Abdul didn’t want to lose her gig and opted against taking action at the time.
Abdul says she was then assaulted by Lythgoe in 2015 during her stint judging “So You Think You Can Dance.” Lythgoe at the time is accused of having “forced himself on top of Abdul while she was seated on his couch” during what she believed to be a professional meeting. He then “attempted to kiss her while proclaiming they two would make an excellent ‘power couple.’”
Lythgoe issued a statement over the holiday weekend denying Abdul’s allegations.
While both claims were filed under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, allowing for civil lawsuits that would otherwise be precluded by the statute of limitations, only Abdul’s was filed before the act’s expiration on Dec. 31.
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