The legal battle between Paula Abdul and Nigel Lythgoe is finally going to trial. Unfortunately, they’re going to have to wait over a year to come face-to-face. A judge just set a trial date, and justice seems to be moving at a snail’s pace.
Paula vs. Nigel, coming in 2025
According to court documents obtained by Radar Online, a Los Angeles judge set a jury trial date for July 28, 2025. The former American Idol coworkers have been having a war of words for the last few months regarding the sexual assault claims levied in the lawsuit. Now, they’ll finally have a chance to put this to rest.
As a reminder, Paula accused Nigel of sexual assault and other inappropriate behavior that occurred both behind the scenes of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. She said he assaulted her on an elevator and then once again at his home. Nigel disputed those claims. Regardless, he got the boot ahead of SYTYCD ahead of Season 18.
Throughout the whole ordeal, Nigel has denied, denied, denied. He even went as far as to accuse Paula of “character assassination” for bringing this lawsuit against him. He also revealed emails between the two of them in hopes of exposing Paula’s “erratic behavior.” Obviously, that didn’t go over so well in the court of public opinion.
Paula’s lawyers called out Nigel’s defense strategy. They acknowledged that it was old-fashioned victim blaming. She also hit back with receipts of her own, which exposed some wildly inappropriate messages she allegedly received from Nigel, when he was supposed to be her boss.
With the trial date set for 2025, it’s going to be a long road ahead for this case. Fingers crossed that the mudslinging can take a pause between now and then. Meanwhile, SYTCD, the show Nigel co-created, has continued to march on without him.
TELL US – ARE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE FOR THIS CASE TO GO TO TRIAL? DO YOU HAVE ANY SUPPORTIVE WORDS FOR PAULA?
