andPOP » nigel lythgoe

La Toya Jackson Wants to Replace Simon Cowell

Vanessa Baker — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:59:30 +0000

La Toya Jackson has expressed an interest in replacing Simon Cowell as a judge on American Idol when the Brit steps down at the end of this season, reports TMZ.

Jackson and Nigel Lythgoe, the show’s producer, reportedly discussed the possibility of her making a guest appearance on the show at a recent housewarming party in Bel Air for Kathy Hilton.

“I would love to be a judge on American Idol,” said Jackson. “I would love to have a chance for the public to get to know the real me. I would be thrilled.”

Katie Holmes Gets Criticized

Vanessa Baker — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:27:46 +0000

Katie Holmes’ performance on So You Think You Can Dance has not received much praise, according to E! Online. The actress performed an homage to Judy Garland choreographed by Tyce Diorio Thursday night on the reality show.

“I am f***ing INSULTED, Katie Holmes how dare you!,” Shanna Moakler wrote on Twitter. “I didn’t just grow up on musicals, I lived and breathed them, Oklahoma, Easter Parade, Family Band, don’t touch my legends! You’re not worthy.”

So You Think You Can Dance judge and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is angry about the negative reactions. He took to his Twitter to retaliate: “Why hate on Katie? She’s had no dance training and did this for publicity for the charity. Everyone lip synchs when they’re dancing. I’m going to ban all the Katie haters. You make me sick. Your attitude stops ’stars’ doing charity work. Understand why she did it CHILDREN. I’m trying to figure out why Katie is being judged as a dancer. When a star throws out the opening pitch, no one says ‘Ooh, crap pitcher!’”

Holmes did the performance to show her support for the Dizzy Feet Foundation, a charity intended to support, improve and increase access to dance education in the United States. The charity was founded this year by Holmes, Lythgoe, director Adam Shankman and Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba.

Nigel Lythgoe Issues Apology To GLAAD

Joelle Tomlinson — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:29:46 +0000

As E! online so eloquently puts it, “For So You Think You Can Dance judge Nigel Lythgoe, there is no dancing around the issue.”

After defending his allegedly homophobic remarks via Twitter on Friday, Lythgoe has officially issued an apology at the urging of gay rights group GLAAD.

“I sincerely regret the fact that I have upset people with the poor word choices and comments I made both during the taping of theSo You Think You Can Dance audition and on my personal status update,” said Lythgoe. “I am not homophobic and it was extremely upsetting for me to be classed as such.”

The “I’m sorry” comes as the result of comments made by the judge during an audition by same-sex dance partners Misha Belfer and Mitchel Kibel, as well as his continuing justification of his actions online the following day.

On Thursday’s premiere, Lythgoe critiqued the duo’s samba, saying ”We’ve always had the guys dance together on the show, but they’ve never really done it in each other’s arms before. I’d like to see you both dancing with a girl.”

As if GLAAD wasn’t already up in arms, Lythgoe then tweeted about the controversy, comparing the dancers to two separate films. “The same-sex ballroom guys did remind me of Blades of Glory. However, I’m not a fan of Brokeback ballroom.”

Injury Changes SYTYCD Top 10

andPOP Staff — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:58:45 +0000

An injury has changed the line-up of Top 10 dancers on “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Jessica King has suffered a mysterious injury that is said to need five weeks to heal. She will be replaced by B-girl Comfort Fedoke, who was the last female voted off the show.

In a press release, producer Nigel Lythgoe stated “how sorry I am that Jessica cannot continue dancing in the competition at the advice of her doctor. Her full recovery is paramount and will only come with rest. We are fortunate that Comfort has agreed to rejoin the competition and know that under the circumstances she has Jessica’s full support.” He said he could not reveal the nature of the injury, but that King herself would speak about it on a later episode.

This week, America’s voted will determine who leaves the competition.