Behind the Scenes Buzz with Nigel Lythgoe and America Ferrera

NIGEL LYTHGOE FACES SECOND SEXUAL ASSAULT LAWSUIT: American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe is facing a second sexual assault lawsuit, just days after Paula Abdul accused him of sexually assaulting her in a lawsuit filed last week. According to People, two women who appeared on 2003’s All American Girl reality show filed a lawsuit against Lythgoe on Tuesday (January 2nd), accusing him of “negligence, sexual assault/battery, sexual harassment, gender violence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” Court documents show that one of the women is accusing Lythgoe of “attempting to kiss her and pushing her body close to his,” while the other said he pinned her “against a grand piano in the house, pushed himself against her body, and forced his mouth and tongue onto her despite her numerous statements telling him not to and attempts to pull her face away from his.” Both of these incidents allegedly happened on the same night.

AMERICA FERRERA COMMENTS ON ‘BARBIE’ CRITICISM: In a recent interview with The New York Times, America Ferrera responded to critics who say Barbie is an “oversimplification” of feminism. “There are a lot of people who need Feminism 101, whole generations of girls who are just coming up now and who don’t have words for the culture that they’re being raised in. Also, boys and men who may have never spent any time thinking about feminist theory,” she told the outlet. “If you are well-versed in feminism, then it might seem like an oversimplification, but there are entire countries that banned this film for a reason.”

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’ SCREENWRITER DISCUSSES WHOOPI GOLDBERG’S CAMEO: Whoopi Goldberg made a surprise cameo in the new rendition of The Color Purple, after the Ghost actor played Celie Johnson in the 1985 version of the film. Screenwriter Marcus Gardley told The Los Angeles Times in a recent interview that adding Goldberg into the script as a midwife “felt like the perfect part … symbolically” because “it’s like she herself gave birth to the role and now we see her passing it down.”

CLAIRE FOY SAYS DIRECTOR ON ‘BEING HUMAN’ BULLIED HER: Claire Foy appeared on a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast and spoke about her first major acting project on the pilot for the British TV show Being Human. The Crown actor said the director, who Deadline writes is Declan O’Dwyer, “shouted” at her to “start acting, darling,” while she was shooting scenes. “It’s taken me a long time to accept that it was actually a very unkind thing to do to a 23-year-old on their first job ever,” Foy said. “Instead of taking them under your wing and helping them, just shouting at them in front of everyone … Sometimes not very nice directors need someone to bully on set and I was like that person.”