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The pop star, 61, has claimed in a lawsuit that the 74-year-old Briton touched her breasts and genitals in an elevator after filming talent show American Idol together in the early 2000s.
Series judge Abdul claims Lythgoe, who was the programme’s executive producer, at one point “began shoving his tongue down her throat”.
Her lawsuit also accuses him of sexually assaulting her after she left American Idol and became a judge on his other competition
show So You Think You Can Dance.
On learning of the lawsuit against him, Lythgoe has now broken his silence to vehemently deny her allegations while also claiming the singer is known for her “erratic behaviour”.
He said: “To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement. For more than two decades, Paula and I have interacted as dear, and entirely platonic, friends and colleagues.”
“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.”
“While Paula’s history of erratic behaviour is well known, I can’t pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue.”
“But I can promise that I will fight this appalling smear with everything I have.”
The lawsuit states Abdul remained silent for years about the alleged assaults out of fear of retaliation by “one of the most well-known producers of television competition shows”.
It states she “ultimately decided not to take action for fear Lythgoe would have her fired from American Idol”.
Before American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, on which Lythgoe served as a judge, he was a producer on the British show Pop Idol, which became a global franchise that included the US version on which Abdul appeared.
The lawsuit also accuses the Brit of taunting Abdul about the alleged assaults, claiming he said to her years later that “they should celebrate” because “the statute of limitations had run”.
Abdul filed the suit days before yesterday’s deadline of a California law that opened a one-year window for victims to file lawsuits involving sexual abuse claims after the statute of limitations had run out.
The duo had worked on American Idol with music executives Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson.
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Source: NewsFinale
