Paulina Rubio, one of the season 1 judges for Telemundo’s “La Voz Kids” is suing the network. “La chica dorada,” as the singer/actress is known in Mexico, claims Telemundo has reneged on a $1.325 million deal for her to star in the show’s second season and looked to replace her with “less expensive talent.”
Her availability may be an issue, now that she’s also appearing as a judge on Fox’s The X Factor. But acccording to the Hollywood Reporter, in her lawsuit filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Paulina says that Telemundo used scheduling concerns as a “pretext” for getting out of a contract.
“Telemundo apparently changed its mind after making a deal when presented with the opportunity to hire a far less expensive talent to replace Paulina,” says the lawsuit.
After the first season of La Voz Kids aired last year, the parties entered into negotiations for Rubio to appear as a coach/judge again.
According to the complaint, after season 1 of the show, her attorney and talent agent entered into negotiations for Paulina to return to “La Voz Kids,” agreeing “orally and in email correspondence” with Telemundo “that the material terms for Paulina to appear on the Second Season would be the same as in the written contract for the First Season apart from Paulina’s compensation.”
HR reports that Tanya Perara, VP business and legal affairs at Telemundo, is said to have requested written confirmation there would be no scheduling conflict with The X Factor.
But Paulina’s agent rejected the demand as “unnecessary” since her X Factor deal allows her flexibility to perform on the other show.
Paulina seeks at least $1 million for breach of contract and an another $100,000 over an alleged deal that would use clips of her first season in television commercials for a laundry detergent.