Nigel Lythgoe is facing his fourth sexual assault lawsuit in two months following his So You Think You Can Dance exit.
An unnamed woman identified as Jane Doe filed a complaint on Tuesday, March 5, in the Los Angeles Superior Court, according to documents obtained by Us Weekly. Lythgoe, 74, is being sued for sexual battery, gender violence, sexual harassment and intentional inflectional of emotional distress following a 2018 incident.
According to the filing, the woman was with Lythgoe at his residence when he “suddenly forced” himself on her by “shoving his knee between her legs” as he backed her against a wall and “started licking the plaintiff’s neck, touching her genitalia and groping her all over.” The documents claim that the woman “tried to push away” from Lythgoe, but he had her “pinned against the wall so that she could not move” and he continued to grope and kiss her.
The woman claimed that once she was able to “break free” of Lythgoe, she “immediately left the property” but was “so shaken by the attack that she had to pull her car over only a block away” from his house. She then “sat in her car shaking and crying” for around 30 minutes before she was “able to drive the remainder of the way home.”
The documents allege that since the incident, the accuser has suffered “severe emotional and psychological distress and embarrassment,” all of which have “greatly impacted her professional and personal life.” In addition to experiencing “debilitating anxiety,” the woman claims her marriage was also “gravely impacted” and ultimately ended in divorce.
Due to becoming “withdrawn” in relationships and experiencing “anxiety and distress when touched by other persons,” the woman said that she no longer feels like the “confident, capable and independent” person she was before the alleged incident.
This latest filing against Lythgoe comes just two weeks after a different unnamed woman filed a similar complaint on February 22. In documents obtained by Us, the alleged victim accused Lythgoe of sexual assault and battery, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress after meeting in a hotel in 2016.
Lythgoe’s attorney denied the claims at the time, alleging that the incident “never” occurred. “The easily verifiable facts are that Nigel was at a public event, with his then-girlfriend, miles from Beverly Hills on the night in question, as numerous witnesses will confirm,” the lawyer said in a statement. “We look forward to the prompt dismissal of this frivolous lawsuit.”
Monday’s lawsuit is the fourth against Lythgoe since he stepped down from his role on SYTYCD season 18 in January. The allegations began in December 2023 when Paula Abdul sued Lythgoe after he allegedly assaulted her multiple times over the years while the pair worked together on American Idol and SYTYCD. (Lythgoe served as a producer on Idol from 2002 to 2014 and worked as a judge and executive producer on SYTYCD since 2005.)
According to documents obtained by Us, Abdul’s suit alleged that Lythgoe “verbally insulted and belittled” her before she took her Idol gig and that he continued to bully her during her time on the reality series. Abdul, 61, also claimed that he sexually assaulted her in a hotel elevator while they were traveling for Idol auditions.
Following her time on Idol, Abdul briefly joined the judging panel of SYTYCD. Elsewhere in the lawsuit, she claimed that she witnessed Lythgoe sexually assault one of her assistants without consent.
Lythgoe denied Abdul’s claims at the time. On Tuesday, he filed a request to dismiss her lawsuit entirely, labeling Abdul as a “well-documented fabulist” who has a “long history of telling wild stories.”
“Sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment and gender violence are despicable, intolerable and life-changing. Those who are legally responsible for such abuse should be held responsible,” documents obtained by Us read. “False accusations of sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment and gender violence are also despicable, intolerable and life-changing. Abdul’s accusations against Lythgoe are false, despicable, intolerable and life-changing. These allegations are the worst form of character assassination on Lythgoe.”
Abdul responded to Lythgoe’s request to dismiss her lawsuit, calling his answer to her initial complaint “classic victim shaming.”
“Mr. Lythgoe fails to appreciate that he held a position of power over Ms. Abdul. He was a producer on American Idol and SYTYCD and she was the talent,” Abdul’s attorney, Ubanks, told Us in a statement on Wednesday, March 6. “He held the cards to her career in his hand and he knew it.”
Eubanks claimed that Abdul “placated to his ego with positive messaging and seeming adoration” because of Lythgoe’s power in the entertainment world. “These are the defenses that many women like Ms. Abdul had to adopt to deal with men who abuse their power,” the statement read.
Abdul’s legal team continued: “While Mr. Lythgoe’s answer cherry-picks from years of messages with Ms. Abdul to try to discredit her claims, what his selections fail to show are the numerous instances of overt sexual harassment he forced Ms. Abdul to tolerate.”
The attorney then outlined several instances of alleged text messages that Abdul received from Lythgoe over the years, all of which were inappropriate. A March 2014 entry read, “When you get back to LA will you please make love to me! Slowly and lovingly!” Abdul allegedly received a second text when she didn’t respond to Lythgoe that read, “I’ll take that as a YES then!”
In July 2014, Lythgoe “acknowledged the inappropriateness of his behavior,” per Abdul’s lawyer. He then allegedly sent her the following text: “You love me like a relation I love you like a girlfriend. I could easily be your f–king cousin? Ha Ha.”
The statement concluded, “There are several instances of such verbal assaults against Ms. Abdul, which are evidence of the frequent abusive behavior that Ms. Abdul was subjected to during her time on American Idol and SYTYCD.”
Following Abdul’s initial lawsuit, two contestants on the 2003 competition series All American Girl filed a suit in January against Lythgoe. The women accused him of forcibly trying to kiss them after a wrap party in 2003.
Us Weekly has reached out to Lythgoe for comment.
