Zoey 101’s Alexa Nikolas Protests ‘Unsafe’ Nickelodeon Atmosphere

Making a change. Alexa Nikolas led a protest exterior Nickelodeon’s headquarters over allegations of kid abuse.

“I’m crying over right here. Thanks for all of the love and help,” the Zoey 101 alum, 30, wrote by way of Instagram on Thursday, August 25. “Survivors are watching and listening. This kind of love and help goes to create main change! I’ll always remember today. At the moment was deeply therapeutic. My inside baby felt empowered. Thanks for listening.”

Nikolas, who starred as Zoey Brooks’ finest good friend Nicole Bristow on the Nickelodeon sitcom upon its 2005 premiere, held up an indication that learn, “Nickelodeon didn’t shield me,” as she spoke out about her experiences working for the network.

The Legal Minds alum, who left the sitcom after its second season, hosted a “Slime Time Reside” rally on Thursday alongside the Eat Predators group to make clear the community’s alleged history of child sexual abuse.

“My very own private expertise at Nickelodeon … I did not feel protected at Nickelodeon as a toddler personally,” she famous in an Instagram video from the protest. “And so, I’m demanding that Nickelodeon begins defending youngsters and never predators.”

Nikolas — who meant to “slime” nondisclosure agreements, as a nod to the network’s famous goo — additional known as out Dan Schneider because the “creator of childhood trauma.” (Schneider, 56, notably helped create community sitcoms Drake & Josh, iCarly, Zoey 101, Victorious, Sam & Cat and Henry Hazard.)

“He performed an enormous position in my private childhood trauma,” the Walking Dead alum alleged. “I didn’t really feel secure round Dan Schneider whereas I used to be working at Nickelodeon. Really, each time he got here on set, my physique obtained extraordinarily tense, and in a while, in season 2, he yelled at me [which] made me cry [in a room alone with him and several network executives].”

Nikolas additional alleged that “loads” of the footage on Schneider’s Bakery exhibits had been troubling, even calling a number of Zoey 101 scenes “deeply concerning as a parent” to rewatch.

Schneider, for his half, has beforehand been accused of inappropriate misconduct throughout his time on the community, which he has since denied. “[It’s] ridiculous,” he instructed The New York Times in July 2021. “The comedy was completely harmless. … I by no means interacted with actors in any means, texting or in any other case, that ought to make anybody uncomfortable.”

Nikolas — who shares daughter Nova, 21 months, with husband Michael Grey — additionally sought to launch an investigation into the manufacturing firm, alleging they tried to “silence” her from talking out.

Whereas neither Schneider nor Nickelodeon have publicly addressed the Illinois native’s protest rally, the previous baby star additional asserted that her personal expertise was “traumatic” and “unsafe,” which she recalled to TMZ on Thursday. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider didn’t instantly reply to Us Weekly‘s request for remark.

The Mad Males alum costarred with Jamie Lynn Spears, Sean Flynn, Matthew Underwood and Erin Sanders on Zoey 101, nonetheless, Nikolas left the show after season 2 amid rumors of a set feud with the Sweet Magnolias star, 30.

“I used to be fairly stunned to see her mendacity up a storm in there,” Nikolas wrote via Instagram in January, slamming Spears’ Things I Should Have Said memoir as inaccurate. “I lately thought we had been nice after she tried to make use of me in her Zoey 101 music video to make herself look higher after I lastly got here out about what occurred to me whereas on set/being not noted as soon as once more in the course of the reunion reboot ploy. I’m guessing the stress from others made her tackle the problem. I declined her provide. Why now? However I used to be blissful to get an apology lastly. So I forgave her.”

She added on the time: “She by no means addressed something that she talked about within the e-book to me personally as a result of she is aware of every little thing she is saying is a complete lie and I’d have known as her out on that. One on one. It’s unhappy to see somebody not change in spite of everything these years. Nothing that she stated in her e-book about me truly occurred.”

To report baby abuse, seek the advice of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Welfare Information Gateway for state-specific reporting cellphone numbers.