Ariana Grande Is “Reprocessing” Her Nickelodeon Past After Allegations
“The environment needs to be made safer.”
Ever since Investigation Discovery premiered its Nickelodeon docuseries, Quiet on Set, in March, many child actors have reflected on the early years of their career. It appears a lot of these stars — and non-actors who worked in the industry at the time — are still trying to understand their experience, even if they didn’t have a similar story to those in the doc. The latest star to come forward is Ariana Grande, who recently revealed she’s been thinking about her time at the network.
On June 12, Grande appeared on Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed podcast. She talked about her first major TV role on Nickelodeon’s Victorious, calling it a “privilege” to have been able to star in such a notable series. (She played Cat Valentine on the show from 2010 to 2013, and continued that character in the Sam & Cat spin-off with Jennette McCurdy shortly after.)
While she didn’t explicitly name showrunner Dan Schneider, who’s the focal point of Quiet on Set, she said it’s been “devastating” to learn about the experiences the “survivors” went through. “I’m still, in real time, reprocessing my relationship to it,” Grande said. “A lot of people don’t have the support they need to get through performing at that level at such a young age. I think the environment just needs to be made a lot safer all around.”
Grande also said that Victorious “pushed the envelope with humor,” admitting she and the cast thought those tactics made the show cool. But now, she sees some of those scenes differently. “I think it just all happened so quickly and now looking back on some of the clips I’m like, ‘Damn, really? Oh sh*t.’”
No one from Victorious appeared on Quiet on Set, but it did use footage from the show to highlight how sexual innuendos were snuck into the show’s script.
The docuseries also focused on other Schneider-led shows, and former actors — including writers and crew members — alleged he created an abusive environment at Nickelodeon. (Schneider has filed a defamation lawsuit against the documentary.)
Grande continued, proposing different ideas that could make a child star’s time in the industry safer. “I think there should be therapists. I think parents should allowed to be wherever they want to be,” she said, adding this level of caution shouldn’t be limited to actors. “If anyone wants to do this: acting, music or anything at this level of exposure, there should be [something] in the contract about therapy is mandatory twice or thrice a week.”
Grande isn’t the only Victorious actor to allude at the allegations from Quiet on Set. In May, Daniella Monet — who played Trina Vega in the series — said that while she came out of that show “unscathed,” there were still “tones” on set that “didn’t necessarily always feel safe or normal.”
“I just can’t even begin to imagine what those situations must feel like. God forbid if anyone made me uncomfortable. Like, who knows what I would have done or thought?” she said, per People. “I just feel lucky that my experience was really special in so many ways.”
