NEWS'Sickelodeon': 'Zoey 101' Alum Alexa Nikolas Protests 'Traumatic' Nickelodeon Work Experience
Aug. 26 2022, Published 12:21 p.m. ET
Zoey 101 alum Alexa Nikolas took a stand against the ‘traumatic’ and ‘unsafe’ conditions she said she endured while working for Nickelodeon as a teen.
On Thursday, August 25, the actress staged a demonstration outside of the network’s Burbank, Calif., headquarters alongside roughly 20 other protesters.
“I did not feel protected at Nickelodeon as a child, personally,” the star stated in a livestream of the event posted to Instagram, alongside a group of protesters with signs reading “Sickelodeon” and “eat predators.”
“I’m demanding that Nickelodeon starts protecting children and not predators,” she continued.
To Nikolas, now 30, part of this protection would likely come in the form of learning “how many NDAs” the company has made past employees sign. “How can we as the public help if we don't know what’s actually happening in there?” she mused, adding that “silence is violence.”
Alongside condemning several former Nickelodeon higher-ups who have been accused of sexual misconduct, including John Kricfalus, as well as Ezel Channel and Jason Michael Handy — who both served prison time for sex crimes — Nikolas also spoke out against television producer, Dan Schneider, who created several hit series for the network like Drake & Josh, iCarly and Zoey 101.
“I did not feel safe around Dan Schneider while I was working at Nickelodeon,” she shared, dubbing the TV mogul, who had been accused of misconduct, “the creator of childhood trauma.”
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But it’s not just Nikolas. Over the past several years, many former Nickelodeon stars have spoken candidly about their time working for the network, sharing alleged mistreatment they faced behind the scenes.
Earlier this month, iCarly star Jennette McCurdy detailed not only the abuse she endured from her mother, but also several accounts of inappropriate behavior from an unnamed Nickelodeon higher-up referred to as “The Creator” in her new memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died.
Throughout her book, McCurdy said that “The Creator” pressured her to drink alcohol and massaged her at work, occurrences she said still impact her to this day.
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“My whole childhood and adolescence were very exploited,” McCurdy revealed during an emotional interview with The New York Times days before her book hit shelves. “It still gives my nervous system a reaction to say it. There were cases where people had the best intentions and maybe didn’t know what they were doing. And also cases where they did — they knew exactly what they were doing.”
