artist Paula Abdul files sexual assault complaint against television producer

American singer Paula Abdul has filed a complaint against a producer of the television singing competition “American Idol”, whom she accuses of sexual assault.

American singer, choreographer, dancer and actress Paula Abdul, a Grammy Award winner and American television star, has accused a producer of the television singing competition “American Idol” of sexual assault, according to a lawsuit filed in California.

Facts dating back to 2002

Paula Abdul, whose album Forever Your Girl released in 1988 had been acclaimed as the most successful debut album in history, charged Nigel Lythgoe, a producer of American Idol of sexually assaulting her on two occasions, according to the complaint filed Friday. The English producer, also a judge on the television dance competition So You Think You Can Dancedenied the accusations, media reported.

In her complaint, the 61-year-old singer said she was harassed by Mr. Lythgoe and other executives at American Idolof which she was a judge from 2002 to 2009. According to the complaint, the star was discriminated against in terms of salary, adding that “she was the target of constant taunts, intimidation, humiliation and harassment from several managers, agents and employees” of the show.

But the most serious charges target Nigel Lythgoe, aged 74. At the start of the broadcast ofAmerican IdolAccording to the complaint, Paula Abdul and the producer were traveling together to audition for the competition when he assaulted her in a hotel elevator, groping her and “shoving his tongue down his throat“.

Recidivism

The second attack dates back to 2015 when Paula Abdul had just agreed to be a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance“She had gone to dinner at Nigel Lythgoe’s, where he would have “tried to kiss him while claiming they would make a great power couple“.

“For years, Abdul remained silent about Lythgoe’s sexual assault and harassment, for fear of speaking out against one of television’s best-known competition producers who could easily ruin her career as a television personality, the ostracize and ostracize her from an industry that has a history of protecting powerful men and muzzling survivors of sexual assault and harassment“, the complaint argues. Mr. Lythgoe declared himself “shocked and saddened” refuting these accusations, to NPR radio.

Paula Abdul’s complaint is the latest in a series of high-profile lawsuits filed ahead of Sunday’s expiration of part of California’s sexual assault and concealment of blame law.