[ad_1]
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Nigel Lythgoe introduced Friday he’s is stepping down from internet hosting the favored TV present So You Assume You Can Dance.
The 74-year-old producer and choreographer’s determination comes round per week after his high-profile co-host, TV persona, actor and singer Paula Abdul, filed a sexual assault lawsuit towards him.
Lythgoe has denied the allegations.
“I’ve knowledgeable the producers of So You Assume You Can Dance of my determination to step again from collaborating on this 12 months’s collection,” mentioned Lythgoe in a press release shared with NPR about his determination to resign from the TV present. “I did so with a heavy coronary heart however completely voluntarily as a result of this nice program has at all times been about dance and dancers, and that is the place its focus wants to stay.”
Lythgoe mentioned within the meantime he plans to dedicate himself to clearing his title.
Recognized for shelling out harsh critiques, Lythgoe had been a decide on So You Assume You Can Dance since its inception in 2005. He additionally produced the TV competitors reveals Pop Idol, American Idol and Superstars of Dance.
Abdul’s civil lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom on Dec. 29, alleges Lythgoe attacked her bodily on two events — first, throughout her tenure as a number on American Idol within the early 2000s, when Lythgoe allegedly groped and kissed her in a lodge elevator throughout a regional audition tour for the present; and second, in 2015, throughout a dinner shortly after Abdul agreed to be a decide on So You Assume You Can Dance.
“As with the sooner incident, Abdul feared she can be retaliated towards or blackballed if she spoke out concerning the incident,” Abdul’s legal professionals, Johnson & Johnson LLP, said within the grievance.
The eighteenth season of So You Assume You Can Dance is scheduled to premiere on March 4. It is going to be hosted by Allison Holker and Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
The present’s producers, Fox, 19 Leisure and Dick Clark Productions, didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s requests for remark; neither did Abdul’s authorized illustration.
In a press release shared with Selection, the producers mentioned the upcoming season will proceed, “though with out Nigel Lythgoe, to make sure the present stays dedicated to the contestants, who’ve labored extremely laborious for the chance to compete on our stage.”
[ad_2]
Source link