Nigel Lythgoe: TV executive and talent show judge faces new sexual assault lawsuit

British television executive Nigel Lythgoe has been accused of sexual assault and battery in a new lawsuit.

An anonymous woman accused Lythgoe, a former judge on US TV show So You Think You Can Dance, of “groping her everywhere” after pinning her against a wall.

It is the fourth lawsuit against the 74-year-old in recent months, including one filed by American singer Paula Abdul.

He has denied all previous allegations and his representatives did not comment to US media about the latest lawsuit.

The BBC has contacted its representatives for a response.

Court documents filed in Los Angeles claim the woman felt “horribly violated” and suffered “serious emotional and psychological distress” after the alleged assault in 2018.

His lawyer Melissa Eubanks said: “Mr Lythgoe allegedly forced himself on our client during what was supposed to be a business meeting and then ended their relationship when she did not comply.”

The case comes after two former contestants on All American Girl, of which Lythgoe was a producer, sued him in January for alleged sexual assault.

Meanwhile, Abdul claimed the TV mogul assaulted her while they worked together on American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance.

In his response to Abdul, filed this week and reported by American media, he called the singer a “well-documented fabulist, with a long history of telling crazy stories that are not tied to reality and are designed primarily to attract attention and make that Abdul appears to be the victim of a terrible misfortune.

He strongly denied her claims, calling them “false, despicable, intolerable and life-changing” and describing them as “the worst form of defamation.”

Lythgoe was executive producer of Pop Idol and American Idol and also acted as an on-screen judge on Popstars in the UK and So You Think You Can Dance in the US.

She quit So You Think You Can Dance with a “heavy heart” in January.