Zoey 101 star defends Nickelodeon peers in Quiet on Set aftermath
Nickelodeon Zoey 101 star Matthew Underwood has defended his Nickelodeon peers after receiving backlash after Quiet on Set premiered.
Investigation Discovery recently dropped their extensive true crime docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which highlighted some of the horrible conditions actors and crew members suffered while working on various Nickelodeon shows.
In the series, many former child stars from shows like All That, Drake & Josh, and Zoey 101 come forward with harrowing tales about their times on these sets.
However, many high profile stars like Amanda Bynes and Ariana Grande have stayed silent on the matter, despite intense pressure from the public urging them to speak up.
And now Zoey 101 star Matthew Underwood has taken it upon himself to defend his child star peers who don’t feel comfortable with talking about this subject in a lengthy and brutally honest Instagram post.
“When I was 19, I was sexually harassed and then assaulted by my agent at the time, who had spent a decent amount of time building trust with me as a friend and mentor. Again, my trust was betrayed and my self image was crushed,” Underwood wrote, “I reported him to the agency and he has since been fired — although he is still active in the industry. This experience provoked my move away from LA and ending my pursuit of acting.”
Underwood explains his decision to come forward now with his assault story because “many people have been blowing up my email telling they hope me and my mom die and that we burn in hell, I’m being called a pedophile defender and all that jazz.”
“I imagine many friends in the business are being equally harassed if they aren’t joining the chorus, so I’m sharing this with hope that some of you can recognize that just because a person doesn’t shout from the rooftops that pedophiles are bad or that people can suck — that does Not mean they don’t have their own reasons for staying silent, good reasons, personal reasons.”
Underwood also added that he “had a bad experience working on set of a Nickelodeon show and I never had a bad experience with Dan” and his silence also stems from having “nothing to add to the conversation that anyone would care to hear.”
The actor concluded his statement writing, “I can’t believe I even have to say this, but of course I don’t fucking support pedophiles. Please stop wishing death upon my family and please reconsider harassing other actors who wish to maintain their privacy — you never know who has already been a victim of the hell you’re wishing upon them.”