On the latest episode of Penn Badgley‘s Podcrushed podcast, Ariana Grande broke her silence about her experience as a child actress in Nickelodeon, specially after the Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV docuseries.
Before Ariana Grande became a pop megastar, she was best known for her role as Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon’s Victorious and its spinoff, Sam & Cat. Nowadays, she’s reflecting on that period of her life with a new perspective.
In the podcast, she mentions that “a lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through performing at that level at such a young age, but also dealing with some of the things that the survivors who have come forward…there’s not a word for how devastating that is to hear.”
“I think that the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting, and I think there should be therapists, I think there should be parents allowed to be wherever they want to be,” she expressed, adding that parents should be allowed to be everywhere, “not only on kids sets.”
The multi-talented artist admitted that young performers are quite vulnerable to adults’ reactions on set, “a strange pattern that occurs where it’s really taking advantage of how much it means to the young performer to get a laugh from Video Village.” She continued: “You’re like, ‘Oh s—, I’m doing something great. Like, this is funny, this is good.’ ”
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV docuseries
These statements come months after the release of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV docuseries, which explored children’s TV shows from the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the series, former child stars shared their alleged experiences of abuse, sexism, and racism.
Although Grande didn’t mention the docuseries directly, she expressed that hearing the stories from former child stars, whom she called “survivors,” has been “devastating.”
The series includes appearances from various persons who collaborated with Schneider on Nickelodeon projects, such as Drake Bell from Drake & Josh.
In the documentary, Bell discloses for the first time that he was the John Doe victim in the child abuse case against Brian Peck.
Peck, who worked with Schneider as an acting and dialogue coach on All That and The Amanda Show, pled no contest to two charges of child sexual abuse in 2004. He was sentenced to 16 months in jail and was required to register as a sex offender.
Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon responses
Nickelodeon cast and crew share their personal stories about working on set with Dan Schneider in the docuseries. Schneider was the creative mind behind beloved shows like The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, Drake & Josh, iCarly, and Victorious.
Two days after the series premiered, Schneider broke his silence by posting a 19-minute video on YouTube. Having kept a low profile since going on “hiatus” in 2021, Schneider apologized for the behaviors exposed in the documentary.
“It was wrong I ever put anyone in that position,” said Schneider in response to allegations of creating a hostile work environment, “practical jokes that went too far,” he added.
“No writer should ever feel uncomfortable in any writers’ room ever, period, the end, no excuses.”
Nickelodeon also released a statement following the documentary’s release. The network stated it would “investigate all formal complaints” and mentioned that it had “adopted numerous safeguards over the years.” However, they added that they “cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago.”