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Zoey 101 Alum Alexa Nikolas, one of the Nickelodeon stars appearing on Investigation Discovery. Silence on the set: The dark side of children’s televisionhas responded to Dan Schneider’s comment about the docuseries.
in a video shared this week on their YouTube page for Eat Predators, a movement created by Nikolas to end predatory behavior in the entertainment industry, the former child star reacted when Schneider expressed regret for his actions as boss. Schneider served as a producer and showrunner for several Nickelodeon shows, including Everything that, Amanda’s show, Drake and Josh and Zoey 101.
Nikolas was 12 years old when she was chosen. Zoey 101. She exited after two seasons in 2006 following what she describes below as an outburst from Schneider after the actress asked him to mediate her tense dynamic with series star Jamie Lynn Spears.
“Watching the last two nights was very difficult, (with) me facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and which I regret, and I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” Schneider had said during his 19 minute session. -chat below with BooG!E, who played T-Bo in icarlyin response to the Silence on set accusations. The video followed a previously released statement from a rep for Schneider that said in part: “Everything that happened on the shows Dan directed was carefully vetted by dozens of adults involved and approved by the network.”
In his video, Nikolas said: “Are you embarrassed?”
She continued: “I’m sorry, him focusing on what he feels is strange to me. It’s like literally… you’re horrible! To be honest with you, horrible. You are embarrassed? I’m not ashamed enough! You’re not ashamed enough to reach out to the people you really hurt.
“I’m going to cut to the chase: You don’t feel anything, Dan. You have no idea what responsibility is. Maybe you are looking for it, but you haven’t reached it. That is sure. This is not the way.”
One of his exes Zoey 101 His co-stars, Jack Salvatore, have also spoken out to corroborate some of the Silence on set accusations, as well as leveling new ones, in a instagram post where he said: “No apologies accepted” until Schneider continues 60 minutes to answer questions from some “real journalists.” (The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to representatives from Schneider and Nickelodeon about Salvatore’s comments. Salvatore declined to comment further when contacted by THR.)
After posting his video, Nikolas spoke with THR to expand on what was revealed in the docu-series and share more details about the alleged toxic environment created by Schneider.
He had previously spoken about a wardrobe-related incident while playing his Zoey 101 character, Nicole, saying about him royal pod podcast in 2022 that the encounter was something that motivated her to want to speak out and become an advocate for other survivors of predatory behavior.
speaking to THR, she says Schneider was in the costume room while she tried on the suits and claims he kept Polaroid pictures of her in the suits. According to Nikolas, the showrunner “carefully selected” miniskirts for her to wear, which were “so short” that the costume designers had to give her biker shorts for her to wear underneath her. However, the biker shorts were too long and peeked out from under the skimpy skirts, so she had to cut them off.
“They told me (I had to wear shorts) so that no one would see my butt,” Nikolas says. “It’s humiliating for a child to be told, ‘We just want to make sure your butt doesn’t show!’ You remember that and think, ‘Why don’t you give me clothes that don’t show my butt?’ That’s fucking weird! Dan wants these skirts; He is the one who chooses them and has all the creative control. It is quite scary to remember that experience.”
Alexa Nikolas in 2005 when she starred Zoey 101.
Federico M. Brown/Getty Images
Schneider representatives did not respond to THRRequest for comments. Kris Dangl, who was the costume designer for the series, denied having THR that Schneider had a role in choosing the outfit for the show. “If the skirt was short, then you wore shorter biker shorts. Skirts became shorter and sportier at that time when we made Zoey 101 because it was a very sporty era, with a lot of tennis skirts and very short, sporty skirts from Abercrombie and Fitch,” said Dangl, who started working at Nickelodeon in 2002.
Prior to the docuseries, Nikolas had spoken publicly about another negative experience he faced on the set of Zoey 101. In 2019 on Instagram Live, the actress detailed a disturbing encounter with Schneider following alleged rampant harassment by Jamie Lynn.
At the time, Nikolas said that during the show’s second season, a talent coordinator told his mother he would take the actress to get her hair and makeup done, but instead took her to Spears’ trailer. Once she sat inside her, her sister Britney Spears allegedly began “berating” her on Jamie Lynn’s behalf, threatening to ruin her career.
“My mom didn’t even know where I was at the time and that was endangering the child,” Nikolas says. THR about the situation. “Imagine if it wasn’t Britney and Jamie. Imagine if there was Brian Peck (convicted child sex abuser) on the other side. So when you’re a talent coordinator, you have to tell the parents where you’re taking the kids.”
After being cornered by Britney, Nikolas says she told what happened to her mother, who then requested a meeting with the show’s production team. Nikolas was accompanied by her agent, while her lawyer spoke on the phone. “Dan was just horrible. He would say mean things, like, “Alexa needs to stop crying about being bullied.” This isn’t about her. She needs to put her feelings aside (because) this is a professional work environment,’” he remembers the showrunner saying.
And he adds: “There were three other producers who allowed him to act like that. (A casting director) said, ‘You should thank us for giving you an opportunity like this.’ You’re lucky to be on Nickelodeon.’”
After Nikolas said he burst into tears during the meeting, Schneider asked the 13-year-old to speak to him and the production team privately, to which his agent agreed. This caused an escalation on Schneider’s part: “Dan yells at me: ‘This is not called nicole 101You understand me?'”
After running out of the room crying, Nikolas says he told what happened to his mother, who decided to remove her daughter from the program. “My mom called them and basically told them, ‘If you don’t take my daughter, I’m going to sue you,’” the actress recalls.
Shortly after, Nikolas’ mother received a call from the actress’s agent, who told her that Nickelodeon had allowed her to break her contract. The network also sent a message to the teenager, telling her that they advised against attending the Kids Choice Awards, Nikolas claims. “They punished me for simply wanting them to improve the environment while they saw Dan Schneider yelling at me,” she says.
Representatives for Schneider and Nickelodeon have not responded to THRRequest for comment.
Britney eventually corroborated her actions toward Nikolas and apologized in a since-deleted message. instagram post. She wrote: “Imagine… me visiting my little sister on her set, the last day of filming, bringing Sprinkles cupcakes… 9 months pregnant, hormones burning like hell and (the assistant director) seeing Jamie Lynn running towards me, putting her hands on my knees while I’m sitting, her sobbing telling me she’s being bullied on set!!!”
She continued: “My sister was literally like my daughter growing up… so I apologize for my ignorance for yelling at you when I obviously had no idea what was really going on!!!”
Nikolas has been in contact with Bell, another Silence on set participant, since his story aired. The actor said his co-star Josh Peck had reached out privately, and Josh Peck (no relation to Brian Peck) has since spoken out in support of his former co-star. Actress Nancy Sullivan, who played the duo’s mother on the series, also spoke. “It broke my heart into a million pieces to hear how much Drake kept inside him while we were working together.” she wrote on Instagram. “I was devastated and proud at the same time to see the man he has become sit in front of the camera and bravely tell his truth.”
The documentary revealed a list of actors who had written letters of support in 2013 for Bell’s abuser, Brian Peck, and some of those names were news to Bell when he watched the documentary, he told Nikolas. In a quote from Bell shared with THR Through Nikolas, Bell said the fact that Taran Killam was among the letter writers was a shock.
“I thought we were friends,” Bell said in a statement. “I gave him a cardboard cutout of Princess Leia because he was obsessed with Star Warsand I worked with Carrie Fisher. So I signed it and he presented it in People magazine when it first arrived Saturday night live (in 2010). It was to spread the word about the new cast and they said to bring their favorite thing from home. He got a photo with it in the magazine and told the story of how I got it for him.”
He added: “And yet he wrote the letter.”
Killam’s representatives have not responded to THRRequest for comments.