Paula Abdul filed her sexual assault and assault lawsuit against Nigel Lythgoe late last year, requesting a trial and she will get one.
The American idol The judge will take action against them So you think you can dance co-star starting July 28, 2025, an LA Superior Court judge announced today.
The date was made public Tuesday morning in a case management hearing at the DLTA on Abdul’s explosive lawsuit against Long Time idol And SYTYCD Manufacturer.
But while the much-accused Lythgoe faces a trial next year, his former co-defendants are now at least temporarily exonerated. Following an April 23 filing statement (read it here) revealing a settlement between Abdul, represented by Johnson & Johnson LLP, and FremantleMedia North America and American Idols Productions, one of the “Straight Up” lawyers said singer said this out loud this morning.
“The parties went to mediation and the corporate defendants reached an agreement,” Douglas Johnson informed LASC Judge Thomas Long of the agreement reached March 18 with the companies represented by O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Additional defendants 19 Entertainment and Dance Nation Productions have also reached an undisclosed settlement with soon-to-be-touring Abdul, who is with New Kids on the Block this summer.
As usual, no details of the settlement were disclosed in court earlier this month or today, and some finer details reportedly still need to be ironed out. However, according to Deadline, plaintiff Abdul was “satisfied” with the outcome, according to a well-informed source.
Officially, neither Abdul nor Lythgoe’s representatives commented on the settlements and next year’s trial. Representatives for the latter Lythgoe did not respond to requests for comment. When contacted by Deadline, Abdul’s lawyers had no comment on the settlement.
In the first of several similar sexual assault lawsuits against the once-ubiquitous Lythgoe, Abdul accused the producer and production companies of sexual assault/battery, sexual harassment and gender-based violence on December 29, 2023; and negligence.
Amazingly, Abdul claims Lythgoe attacked her twice.
According to her initial complaint, the first assault occurred “during one of….” American Idol’ S First Seasons in a hotel elevator in the early 2000s while the Simon Cowell-co-judged show was on the move. “Lythgoe pushed Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts and began sticking his tongue down her throat,” the document says. Abdul eventually fled to her room, locked the door and called her representatives.
“AMERICAN IDOL Season 6 (LR) Ryan Seacrest, judges Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, Olivia Newton-John and Paula Abdul
Michael Becker/20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy: Everett Collection
The second attack allegedly occurred in 2015 during season 12 of SYTYCD Meeting at Lythgoe’s house in LA. “Towards the end of the evening, Lythgoe forced himself to straddle Abdul while she sat on his couch and attempted to kiss her while proclaiming that the two would make an excellent ‘power couple,'” it says the wide-ranging but unspecified damages lawsuit says about what Abdul believed was a “professional invitation” from her EP and on-air co-star. “Abdul pushed Lythgoe away from her, stating that she was not interested in his advances, and left immediately.” That same year, Abdul says she also witnessed Lythgoe attack one of his assistants SYTYCD filmed in Las Vegas.
Furthering the attack, Abdul claims in the filing, permitted under the Sexual Abuse Accountability and Cover-Up Act, which expires on December 31, that Lythgoe was fully aware that his act was “inappropriate and even criminal” – in fact, he had made a joke about it.
“In fact, at some point, Lythgoe called Abdul and taunted them that they should celebrate because it had been seven years and the statute of limitations had expired,” the 16-page filing says. “Lythgoe clearly knew that his attacks on Abdul were not only wrong, but that he also had the power to silence them.”
Lythgoe’s first reaction on December 30 was to care about Abdul’s character.
“While Paula’s history of erratic behavior is known, I cannot pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue,” he said of his former colleague. “But I can promise that I will fight this horrific slander with everything I have.”
On March 5, he added in a filing in the LASC file: “Lythgoe will continue to promote the spread of the truth – which confirms that Abdul is not a victim of sexual assault by Lythgoe, but it is Lythgoe who is a victim of sexual assault by.” Lythgoe has become a victim of Abdul’s appalling lies.” Lythgoe wants Abdul’s lawsuit to be “dismissed completely and unconditionally” as quickly as possible. “Abdul’s lies are supported by her conduct and statements during and after the period in which she alleges the abuse occurred,” the response from the law firm Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside LLP continued
A day later, Abdul replied: “Mr. Lythgoe’s response to Ms Abdul’s complaint is classic victim shaming.”