So You Think You Can Dance judge Nigel Lythgoe exits after Paula Abdul sexual assault lawsuit
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Paula Abdul and Nigel Lythgoe attend the 2013 amfAR Inspiration Gala Los Angeles at Milk Studios in Los Angeles, California.
PHOTO: AFP
Nigel Lythgoe has stepped down as a judge of So You Think You Can Dance, the show said on Jan 5, after he was sued by Paula Abdul and accused of sexual assault.
Lythgoe, who has denied sexually assaulting Abdul, said in a statement that he was stepping down from the show that he had helped create “with a heavy heart but entirely voluntarily because this great programme has always been about dance and dancers, and that’s where its focus needs to remain”.
“In the meantime, I am dedicating myself to clearing my name and restoring my reputation,” said Lythgoe, who was also a producer of the show.
Variety was first to report his exit.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in December 2023, Abdul accused Lythgoe of shoving her against the wall of a hotel elevator, grabbing her genitals and breasts and shoving his tongue down her throat in the early 2000s while she was a judge on American Idol. Lythgoe, who had been a producer of the show at the time, called the allegations “false” and “deeply offensive to me and to everything I stand for”.
Lythgoe, 74, has been one of the faces of So You Think You Can Dance since he helped create the show in 2005.
He was among the producers who made American Idol a phenomenon in the United States after an earlier iteration aired in Britain. So You Think You Can Dance also proved to be a ratings success in its early seasons by following a similar format.
Lythgoe, a commercial dance impresario, had been a judge on the show for 16 of its 17 seasons, providing on-air feedback to young contemporary, ballroom and hip-hop dancers.
The show was planning a return this spring with a new format and was going to team Lythgoe with new judges, including Maksim Chmerkovskiy, choreographer of Dancing With The Stars, and Ms Allison Holker, a former contestant.
The production companies behind the show, which include Dick Clark Productions and 19 Entertainment and Fox, the network that airs it, said in a joint statement on Jan 5 that the show would proceed without Lythgoe and would remain “committed to the contestants, who have worked incredibly hard for the opportunity to compete on our stage”. NYTIMES
