American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance creator Simon Fuller has experienced a HUGE setback in his legal wrangling with the show’s owners, Core Media, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
In reaction to Fuller’s demands, which came as Core was working with its lenders to restructure almost $400 million in debt, Core wanted an order pursuant to bankruptcy code authorizing the rejection of Fuller’s consulting agreements. Back in 2010, when Fuller left 19 Entertainment, he signed a lucrative deal that entitled him to substantial payments in return for executive producer and consulting services.
“The recent decline in the Debtors’ businesses, coupled with the recent conclusion of American Idol on American broadcast television, has caused the Fuller Consultancy Deed to become more burdensome then beneficial,” states court papers filed by Core, which added that Fuller hadn’t provided any services since the April bankruptcy, that his services were no longer needed, and that he had become harassing.
The means Core is legally able to cut Fuller out of the picture entirely. His 10 percent profit share from Idol as well as SYTYCD will be no more. Also, the producers would be kept out of any planned reboot of American Idol. Fuller had hopes, after FOX cancelled the long-running show, to bring back the show refashioned for the digital age.
Fuller’s reaction to this move was his own attempt to interest the judge in an alternative plan for Core’s reorganization — one that would have him playing a continuing role with the company moving forward.
After the hearing, Core Media issued its own statement: “The company has the utmost respect for Simon Fuller. We are enourmously grateful for the shows he created and his development of 19 Entertainment.”
After Idol left the airwaves back in April, Fuller called a debt in to Core, which forced the company into bankruptcy. Fuller and Core have been battling ever since, and it appears that the latter has won, at least for now.
