TV Everything Nickelodeon stars are saying about Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV See what Kenan Thompson, Josh Peck, Drake Bell, and more former child stars have said about the explosive documentary series. By Wesley Stenzel Updated on April 2, 2024 04:09PM EDT Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV premiered March 17, detailing allegations of a toxic work environment and abuse that child performers endured during Dan Schneider's tenure at Nickelodeon. Cast members from some of Schneider’s biggest shows — including All That, The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, and Zoey 101 — appeared in the four-part documentary series to discuss their experiences at the network. Now, after the Investigation Discovery docuseries’ conclusion, many of its participants — as well as former Nickelodeon stars who didn't appear in it — are reacting to the show, as well as Schneider’s response video. Nancy Sullivan, John Kassir, Amanda Bynes, Raquel Lee, Drake Bell on 'The Amanda Show'. Nickelodeon/Everett Quiet on Set participants who have reacted to the series publicly include Drake Bell, Alexa Nikolas, Giovonnie Samuels, Leon Frierson, and Raquel Lee Bolleau. Additionally, Nickelodeon stars who did not participate in the series have also made public statements about the documentary and their time working for the network, including Josh Peck, Devon Werkheiser, and Nancy Sullivan. It’s also worth noting that to date, many famous former Nickelodeon stars have not spoken publicly about the documentary, including Amanda Bynes, Miranda Cosgrove, Ariana Grande, Jamie Lynn Spears, Jennette McCurdy, Victoria Justice, Kel Mitchell, Jerry Trainor, and Nathan Kress. Here’s everything Nickelodeon stars have said about Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. Drake Bell Drake Bell. Nickelodeon/Everett; Vivien Killilea/Getty Drake Bell, who appeared on The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh, was perhaps the most prominent interviewee in Quiet on Set. The former child star detailed the sexual abuse he faced from Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck as a teenager, and how his testimony ultimately landed Peck in prison. Bell explained his decision to participate in Quiet on Set during a recent episode of The Sarah Fraser Show podcast. “I just felt really comfortable in [an initial production] interview, but I was going through so much in my personal life and after that interview I ended up checking myself into rehab,” he said. “We were going through a lot of trauma therapy, a lot of group therapy, a lot of one-on-one therapy — your entire day was filled with working through and processing this with a clear mind, and unearthing all of these things that I hadn’t faced head-on, or if I had tried to, it was too painful. And so through that process, once I got out, I thought to myself, ‘Maybe this is a good time to reach back out to them and say hey, I’m not 100% yet, let’s talk some more, but I’m getting closer to feeling comfortable with finally sharing my story.’” In the same podcast episode, Bell said that none of the 41 Hollywood figures who wrote letters vouching for Peck during the trial have reached out to him privately. “I haven’t gotten an apology, or a sorry, from anybody that had written letters, or was involved in supporting him at all,” Bell said. “They were people in positions of power, that they were my bosses. They were directors, they were producers. It was a situation where I thought I was surrounded by, I thought I was safe. I thought, okay, I thought I got rid of, the cancer has been carved out, we’re better now. And I had no idea that for four years, I was working alongside people who had supported him, and probably in the back of their mind were thinking of me in a certain way, and I thought they were my friends.” Bell perviously called out Boy Meets World actors Rider Strong and Will Friedle for writing letters of support during his sexual abuse trial during the early 2000s. "RIDER WAS 24 years old when he wrote the letter and was told by Brian what he did. He wrote the letter anyway,” Bell wrote in a comment on Zoey 101 star Alexa Nikolas’ Instagram post. In a now-deleted comment on the same post (of which Nikola shared a screenshot), Bell called out Friedle for similar behavior, adding that the actor continued working with him on Disney XD’s Ultimate Spider-Man in the 2010s. “Will was 27 years old and Brian told him what he did,” Bell wrote. “Many people turned away and said no I won’t write a letter but they did. Will was not manipulated. Brian admitted it to him and he wrote the letter anyway. Then he worked with me on many many episodes of spider man years later and never said a word to me about it.” Friedle and Rider discussed their relationship with Brian Peck in an episode of their podcast Pod Meets World shortly before the release of Quiet on Set, which Bell viewed as a tactical measure to protect their reputations. “This is because they were told [their] letters are going to be made public,” Bell wrote in his Instagram comment. “Everyone thought the letters would be sealed forever and no one would ever see them. This is their publicist telling them how to get ahead of the story.” In the Sarah Fraser interview, Bell expressed confusion about how letter writers like Rider and Strong could hear Peck admit to having sexual relations with a minor and still support him. “To sit there and say, ‘Yes, I did this, but it’s not how they’re painting it’ — I mean, I can’t imagine framing it in a way where 41 people, adults, say ‘Oh, well that totally makes sense, how you’re telling me, that makes sense,’” he said. Bell also said he appreciates the handful of people who have made public statements about their regrets. “Tom DeSanto, the producer from X-Men, he released an apology statement, which I really appreciate,” he said. “This is a very, very tough thing for everyone involved, and that’s what happens when people like Brian do what they do — it creates a ripple effect. And so that was really cool of him to do.” Additionally, in an interview with La Entrevista con Yordi Rosado, Bell recalled witnessing the entertainment industry welcoming Peck back into the fold after his prison stint. “He was hanging out on set, working, going to parties, being around Hollywood, like nothing happened,” Bell said. “I remember one time I saw him at a restaurant, and he was at the table with 10 or 12 male actors between the ages of 14 and 16, and I walked in, and saw him, and saw that he was just right back to what he was doing, and turned around and left.” Representatives for Bell did not respond to EW's request for comment. Josh Peck Josh Peck. Albert L. Ortega/WireImage; Amy Sussman/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Bell’s Amanda Show and Drake & Josh costar Josh Peck did not appear in Quiet on Set, but did release a statement on the documentary a few days after it premiered. “I finished the Quiet on Set documentary and took a few days to process it,” Peck said. “I reached out to Drake privately, but want to give my support for the survivors who were brave enough to share their stories of emotional and physical abuse on Nickelodeon sets with the world.” “Children should be protected,” Peck’s statement continued. “Reliving this publicly is incredibly difficult, but I hope it can bring healing for the victims and their families as well as necessary change to our industry.” Representatives for Peck did not respond to EW's request for comment. Alexa Nikolas Alexa Nikolas. London Entertainment/Shutterstock; Leon Frierson/ Instagram Alexa Nikolas, who played Nicole Bristow on Zoey 101, has been one of the most vocal critics of Schneider and Nickelodeon since her time on the network ended. In addition to detailing her difficult time working on Zoey 101 in the documentary, the actress also slammed Schneider’s apologetic response video that released after the conclusion of Quiet on Set. “When someone doesn’t personally come to you and apologize, it’s not an apology,” she said. “If you hear about it through other people, it’s not really an apology right? An apology is to the person that you hurt. That’s what an apology is for.” Nikolas criticized Schneider for making a public statement without privately apologizing beforehand. “I would’ve appreciated if Dan apologized directly to me,” she said. “He’s a bully, a meanie, and impacted my life, right? ... Where’s a phone call of an apology? How come you can do all of this, how can everyone do all of this but not reach out to the person that they hurt?” “You don’t feel anything, Dan,” she continued. “You’re like every frickin’ privileged white male I’ve honestly ever met on set. You don’t even know what accountability is. You have no idea what it is. You’re searching for it maybe, but you haven’t landed on it. That’s for sure. This is not the way. I don’t wanna have to watch this. I would have so rather gotten a letter from you, for example, apologizing, genuinely, than having to witness the whole world watching whatever the hell this is.” "I don't forgive Dan Schneider," Nikolas said. "Not saying I'll never, right? But currently, right now, that made me a little more upset, just because that just wasn't it. That wasn't proper accountability. That was avoiding a lot of the main discussions here that were mentioned in Quiet on Set. This was him playing the sympathy card, centering himself, playing the victim." She has also recapped Quiet on Set on her YouTube channel. Representatives for Nikolas did not respond to EW's request for comment. Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson. Tollin/Robbins Productions / courtesy Everett; Theo Wargo/Getty Kenan Thompson, who was a key cast member on All That before leading the Schneider-produced spinoffs Kenan & Kel and Good Burger, explained why he didn’t participate in Quiet on Set in an interview with Tamron Hall. “It’s tough. It’s a tough subject, you know?” Thompson said. “It’s tough for me because I can’t really speak on things that I never witnessed, you know what I’m saying? Because all these things happened after I left, basically…Dan wasn’t really on Kenan & Kel like that,” he explained. “I mean, he got a ‘created by’ credit, but it was a different showrunner, so our worlds wasn’t really overly overlapping like that outside of All That, necessarily. And then all of that negativity kinda started happening outside of our tenure there, you know what I mean? So I wasn’t really aware of a lot of it.” Thompson, who said he has not spoken to All That costar Amanda Bynes in years, also offered his sympathy to former castmates who had negative experiences at the network. “My heart goes out to anybody that’s been victimized, or their families,” he said. “I think it’s a good thing that the doc is out and it’s putting things on display, stories that need to be told for accountability’s sake. But it’s definitely tough to watch because I have fond memories of that place and I have fond memories of my costars and stuff like that. So to hear that they’ve gone through terrible things like that is really tough.” The Kenan & Kel star also called for further investigation into children’s entertainment. “Investigate more,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a safe place for kids. And to hear all about that is just like, ‘How dare you?’” Melissa Joan Hart Melissa Joan Hart. Nickelodeon/ Courtesy: Everett; Paul Morigi/Getty Melissa Joan Hart, the Sabrina the Teenage Witch star who appeared on Clarissa Explains It All on Nick from 1991 to 1994, expressed her support for the Quiet on Set participants. “I don’t know other people’s experiences. I’m not negating anything anyone else says,” she said on the podcast Meghan McCain Has Entered the Chat. “I’ve never been told these people’s stories that are in the documentary, or and I have to say, I’ve never heard a story from a Nickelodeon star personally.” Hart continued, “No one’s come to me and talked to me about any of these situations, and that’s not to say anything about anyone’s story. I absolutely trust and believe them 100 percent.” “I was surrounded by an amazing crew, an incredible cast that took such good care of me,” Hart said of her own time on Nickelodeon. “And so I don’t know if it was the difference in Orlando or the time period, whoever these guys were, they weren’t around, but I have to say, not every egg in the Nickelodeon basket is rotten. There were some people that really took care of me." Giovonnie Samuels Giovonnie Samuels. Amy Graves/WireImage; Giovonnie Samuels/ Instagram Giovonnie Samuels, a former All That cast member, shared about her experiences on Nick in Quiet on Set. Samuels posted about the doc on social media after its release. “Thank you to everyone that watched #QuietOnSet,” she wrote. “I really appreciate your support. This has been a difficult year long process of making this documentary and speaking up. I couldn’t have done this without my brothers [Bryan Hearne and Giorgio Johnson] Let’s keep this conversation going!" A representative for Samuels declined to comment. Jack Salvatore Jr. Jack Salvatore Jr. Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock; Leon Bennett/Getty Jack Salvatore Jr., who played Mark Del Figgalo on Zoey 101 and later worked as a production assistant on Victorious and Sam & Cat, did not appear in Quiet on Set. However, he made several troubling claims about Schneider in an Instagram video reacting to the doc. “We could talk about the massages, we could talk about the fact that he would literally count his gold coin collection in front of his crew who was living from paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “We could talk about how sometimes he would bring out his shotgun to scare one of the writers when they were working at his house. We could talk about the high-level conversations I wasn’t supposed to hear about how Nickelodeon didn’t want to recommend antidepressants for Jennette McCurdy after her mom died for fear that she might kill herself and make the network look bad.” (EW has reached out to Schneider and Nickelodeon for comment). “But what I do want to talk about is never letting this stuff happen again,” he continued. “This is an entire industry built on hope and dreams and adrenaline and wish fulfillment. And that can be a very dangerous thing for megalomaniacs to wield. Even in posting this, I’m a little afraid — is this going to screw up my career moving forward? I have no idea, but I think it’s important and it needs to be said. Because if my silence ensures the perpetuation of environments I don’t want to work in anymore, then what is the point of working in them? And until homeboy goes on 60 Minutes to answer some questions from some real journalists and not some cast member of his who he’s paying to be there: apology not accepted," he said, referring to Schneider's apology video being moderated by iCarly cast member BooG!e. Salvatore Jr. declined EW's request for comment. Leon Frierson Leon Frierson. Nickelodeon/Paramount+; Leon Frierson/ Instagram Leon Frierson, another All That cast member, also appeared in the doc, and had a fairly positive response to Schneider’s video. “Overall, I am pleased with Dan Schneider's acknowledgment of wrong doing and display of humility,” Frierson said in a statement to EW. “I participated in the documentary to speak my truth and represent child stars, but I'm not here to judge those implicated for an eternity. While his apology and response to rumors is incredibly timely, and could have come sooner, it is welcomed. However, I can't speak for all those affected by his actions. Lastly, Dan rightfully pointed out the missteps by the network and shed light on a failed process in terms of the questionable content that was broadcast to the world. To me, it's important to note that his contribution to a toxic work environment does not include sexual crimes and shouldn't necessarily be connected with convicted offenders.” Frierson also discussed the doc and his time on Nickelodeon on the That's F***ed Up Podcast after Quiet on Set’s release. Frierson said that he got paid about $2,000 per episode of All That, whereas “other shows — if you were on ABC, CBS, one of these major networks, it was like $20,000 an episode, even for the kids just starting off. So it was definitely about a tenth of the normal industry standard.” “Nickelodeon — so I call them Slickelodeon, you know, I got I got a ‘Nickel and Diming’ shirt that I rock from time to time,” he said. “It was decent money, but not in comparison to the industry standard. So I believe we were governed by AFTRA and not SAG, and so they found a loophole there. And then and what you find with Nickelodeon is a lot of the kids get their start on Nickelodeon, so they don't have an extensive work history — nothing really to compare it to.” (EW has reached out to Nickelodeon for comment.) Raquel Lee Bolleau Raquel Lee Bolleau. Nickelodeon/Everett; Tommaso Boddi/Getty Raquel Lee Bolleau discussed her time on the first season of The Amanda Show during the documentary. The actress shared an emotional Instagram post after the conclusion of the docuseries. “I’ve been in deep pain the past few days watching the documentary,” she wrote. “To know that I am not alone in some of the things I experienced as a child actor, but to also hear the types of environments I was in as a kid without even knowing, just sickens my stomach. I know that everything happens for a reason and we all deserve to heal from our trauma, but this is so hard to take in.” “I struggled to be apart of this documentary because although this industry has caused me a lot of pain, there was still something in me that felt I shouldn’t say anything that I went through because ‘what if people don’t want to work with me anymore’ but then I realized, I’ve been fighting to be seen and heard for sooooo long in this industry,” she continued. “I’ve paid my dues, I’ve put in the work, and now I can be ok walking away with my head held high. What’s most important is that we all begin our healing, now that we have more clarity and truth.” In another post, the actress spoke in a video about the experience of watching the documentary. “You have no clue for how long, not only myself but all of us have just suffered quietly in silence and not really feeling like we had anybody else who could understand us,” she said. “Watching this documentary and seeing Drake, I realized that it’s not only Drake. He’s not the only one that this has happened to. Regardless to it being an unpopular opinion for actors and actresses to speak out and say anything about what they’ve experienced in this industry, that was not easy I just commend every single person that was a part of this documentary. I’m still processing. What happened was not right. Something has to change.” Representatives for Bolleau did not respond to EW's request for comment. Devon Werkheiser Devon Werkheiser. Peter Brooker/Shutterstock; Leon Bennett/Getty Ned’s Declassified actor Devon Werkheiser, who did not appear in the doc, came under fire for appearing to joke about Drake Bell’s abuse with his former costars Lindsey Shaw and Daniel Curtis Lee in a live video TikTok. “Daniel, we told you never to speak about that. Get back in your hole, Daniel, and give me your holes,” Werkheiser said to Lee, who was off-screen. "Sorry, we shouldn’t joke about this. We really shouldn’t. Our set was not like that. No, it’s f---ing awful. The Drake Bell s---, that’s crazy to hear. That is f---ed. And that never came out, which is really wild. Really wild.” “I’m not talking about this anymore,” he continued. “Not talking about this anymore. Guys, we can’t joke like this, Jesus. Sometimes humor helps us move through things.” After Bell called him out on social media, Werkheiser posted an apology. “So sorry to Drake. Gutted I hurt you," he wrote in a caption alongside a screengrab of text that read: "I was being an idiot today. No way around it. I feel horrible that my dumbass was even speaking about this without seeing it. I watched Quiet On Set tonight and am horrified by the gravity of what Drake and others shared. Truly heartbroken about what my fellow actors went through. I can't believe they weren't protected. I'm sorry for compounding any hurt." Werkheiser later posted a podcast episode reacting to Quiet on Set alongside two of his Ned’s Declassified costars, apologizing for the incident again and responding to questions about why he’s never spoken about Dan Schneider. “I never have because we didn’t work with him,” he said. “We experienced it still in a safe enough environment. It wasn’t scary to talk to Scott [Fellows, Ned’s Declassified’s creator]. We had the normal pressure that a kid actor has, but knowing this is what our f---ing people were going through on other sets is f---ed.” Representatives for Werkheiser did not respond to EW's request for comment. Daniel Curtis Lee Daniel Curtis Lee. Matthew Simmons/Getty; Jerritt Clark/Getty Daniel Curtis Lee, who also starred on Ned’s Declassified as Simon "Cookie" Nelson-Cook, was part of the costar group that posted a response video to the doc. “We’ve been screwed over by the business in ways, but what was revealed in that docuseries — this is an urgent matter, like something needs to happen,” Lee said in the Ned's Declassified Podcast Survival Guide episode. “We’ve talked about the money woes associated with it, but it’s like, jeez, it’s even a luxury to have that to complain about when there are these really, really awful things that money cannot even bring back. It’s crushing.” Lindsey Shaw Lindsey Shaw. Mike FANOUS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty; Robin L Marshall/Getty Fellow Ned’s Declassified star Lindsey Shaw, who played Jennifer "Moze" Mosely on the series, reacted alongside Werkheiser and Lee. “Even considering touching that topic or speaking on it at all now in the mindset we were in is so irresponsible,” she said in her apology on the podcast. "I hate that this happened. I hate that we compounded any trauma around this situation that means so much to each of us, and I am sorry.” “I totally get the thing with kids not being on TV,” she added. “I think there can't be as much leeway as there is with adult television…kids programming I think needs to be way condensed.” Nancy Sullivan Nancy Sullivan. SGranitz/WireImage; Nancy Sullivan/ Instagram Nancy Sullivan, who played Drake Bell’s mother on Drake & Josh, did not participate in the documentary, but posted a heartfelt message about her on-screen son on Instagram. “They weren't my real kids, but I'll always love them,” Sullivan wrote. “It broke my heart into a million pieces to hear just how much Drake was holding inside while we were working together. I was both devastated and proud seeing the man he's grown into sit down on camera and bravely tell his truth.” “Past abuse doesn't define us, and it has no right to rule our lives, I know that putting this burden down will free him in so many ways,” she continued. “I hope memories of the joy he had on our shows will someday greatly overshadow the pain. Sending love to Drake for a deep healing and for a rich and beautiful life ahead.” A representative for Sullivan declined to comment. Bryan Christopher Hearne Bryan Christopher Hearne. Gregg DeGuire/WireImage; Giovonnie Samuels/ Instagram Bryan Christopher Hearne, another All That cast member who discussed his time on Nick in the documentary, shared a statement about Quiet on Set on Instagram. “The outpour and love from hearing our stories on #QuietOnSet has been straight up beautiful,” he wrote in his caption. “Thank ya’ll for your support. Sending healing to any child stars who have stories on stories in this industry. Let’s continue this journey and make the arts a better place for these youth!” “I just wanted to check in real quick and say thank you for the love and support pouring in after we’ve all seen Quiet on Set,” he said in the video. “I feel very honored to have been given the opportunity to share my story. It’s definitely hard as a Black man in Hollywood, let alone a Black child. I couldn’t see what my mom was doing for me at the time, but I’m very grateful to her for being the kick-ass mom that she was, that she is." Hearne also offered his support to fellow child stars. “I wanted to give a shoutout to every child star: if you were dealing with your own triggers watching this documentary, I feel you,” he said. “I’m here for you. You heard. There’s no due date to healing. If you’re wondering ‘Why now?’ it’s because it’s time for justice. It’s time for all this stuff to be revealed and released for so many of us.” Representatives for Hearne did not respond to EW's request for comment. Steve Burns Steve Burns. Nickelodeon Network / Everett Collection; Roy Rochlin/Getty Former Blue's Clues host Steve Burns, who does not appear in Quiet on Set, did not directly address the documentary but did upload a video to TikTok days after its release. "Hey, I'm checking in," the 50-year-old star said in the video. "Tell me what's going on." He then stared into the camera and “listened” attentively, giving viewers time to vent. The routine is reminiscent of his role in the Nick Jr. series, in which he would talk to the young audience and pause, giving them time to answer his questions. Burns has uploaded a number of similar videos over the past few years encouraging viewers to vent as needed, but fans noted the timing of this particular upload coming directly after the revelations unearthed in Quiet on Set. Fans wrote in their gratitude with such comments as, “After the Nickelodeon documentary, Steve, all I need is my Blue's Clues to save whatever is left of this childhood I once had.” Another user wrote, “Thank you for being one of the GOOD parts of Nickelodeon, Steve.” So far, the video has accrued 6.1 million views, and more than 40,000 users have left comments. Amber Frank Amber Frank. Nickelodeon/courtesy Everett Collection; Amy Graves/Getty Amber Frank, who starred as Taylor Hathaway in Nickelodeon’s The Haunted Hathaways, does not speak out in Quiet on Set but uploaded a response on TikTok after watching the docuseries for herself. Frank tells viewers that she was “triggered” after spotting herself in the ID doc. “I feel like I need to say something,” she told viewers. “One of the horrifying things that happened in my experience with Nickelodeon was when Nickelodeon sent computers over to production when we were starting filming the show. And when they were turned on, there was child porn on them,” Frank recounted. “And nobody was held accountable. There was no investigation, never even found out where it came from or who was responsible for it.” She continued, “It’s beyond heartbreaking to know that a company that was employing children failed miserably at protecting them. So I am sending a lot of love to all of the victims involved, and I hope that we can create a very different environment going forward, for child actors.” Representatives for Frank did not respond to EW's request for comment. Allie DiMeco Allie DiMeco. Larry Busacca/WireImage; Mario Perez/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Allie DiMeco, who starred as Rosalina in Nickelodeon’s mockumentary series The Naked Brothers Band from 2007- 2009, did not appear in Quiet on Set but spoke about her experience with the network on social media, after the docuseries was released. “I’m stressed. Why? Because I’m watching the Quiet on Set documentary. I had to,” she said in a TikTok, explaining that while the series was not a Dan Schneider-produced show, she went through “trauma” during her time at the network. “My mind’s been wandering to this one — multiple times, and actually multiple episodes. There was an episode where Rosalina cheated on Nat and kissed a French guy.” Frank then showed a brief clip of the episode in question on her laptop. “I’m 4’11, he’s a 30 year old man. I couldn’t even watch it. It gave me f---ing, the ick. It honestly gives me PTSD,” she said. “I’m watching this Quiet on Set documentary and it’s talking about how integral and vital it is, especially when it’s a kids cast, to create an environment where kids feel comfortable to say ‘no’ or ‘I don’t feel comfortable with this.’ And I’m like, yeah, maybe they do express that but it’s also more important to create an environment that listens to the kids and actually does not make them do things when they don’t want to do them,” she continued. “Because they made me kiss this 30 plus year old man when I was, what, 14? 15? I told them many times I didn’t want to do it, my mom was very against it, and they just pretty much made me feel like I was gonna lose my job and like, be fired if I didn’t do it. And it was weird.” DiMeco went on to say that The Naked Brothers Band was a “nepotistic” environment. The series centered on brothers Nat and Alex Wolff as versions of themselves who form a band. It was created by their mother, Polly Draper, who also served as a director and featured their real-life father, Michael Wolff, as their dad. DiMeco theorized that the parental involvement made the environment somewhat safer. “It was, from what I’m understanding, one of the most healthiest sets out of all the Nickelodeon shows,” she said. “However, it did have a lot of toxic and not so healthy aspects.” Representatives for DiMeco did not respond to EW's request for comment. Matthew Underwood Matthew Underwood in 'Zoey 101'. Nickelodeon Network/Courtesy Everett Collection; Mark Von Holden/Variety via Getty Zoey 101 star Matthew Underwood did not participate in the documentary series but later opened up about his own experience as a child star in a March 28 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,” he wrote. “My trust was betrayed and my self-image was crushed. 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 L.A. and ended my pursuit of acting.” Underwood, who described the assault as something he never expected to publicly discuss, went on to defend his fellow Nickelodeon stars who have not publicly responded to the accusations made in the docuseries. He explained that after Quiet on Set premiered, people have been “blowing up" his email and calling him a “pedophile defender” for not speaking out about the abuse allegations. “I imagine many of my friends in the business are being equally harassed if they aren’t joining in the chorus,” Underwood wrote. “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 said he had no relevant incidents to recount regarding the allegations against Schneider and other crew members. “I never had a bad experience working on set of a Nickelodeon show, and I never had a bad experience with Dan. I have nothing to add to the conversation that anyone would care to hear,” he wrote. “I like to believe people have the capacity to be better humans, and Dan appears to recognize that he had been an a--hole in his past. I like to believe he is fully capable of being a creator and coworker everyone can enjoy working with.” Underwood concluded his statement by writing, “I can’t believe I even have to say this, but of course I don’t f---ing 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.” Lisa Lisa Lisa Lisa. Jim Spellman/WireImage; Leon Bennett/Getty Singer Lisa Lisa, who played the titular protagonist’s mother in 20 episodes of Taina between 2001 and 2002, discussed Quiet on Set on the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast. “ I didn’t experience any of that,” she said of the abuse that many of the series’ participants alleged on Nickelodeon sets. “I do know who those people are, and I’m so sorry about that. But again, I think they just need to have more focus on these kids and have their parents on set, and I know it gets crazy cause some parents are kinda crazy, but that’s okay — they’re there to take care of their children and make sure that everything gets done, okay? That’s horrible that it happened. I know everyone that they’re talking about and I just wish them nothing but happiness in their lives, and I hope they can press on.” “I knew these people,” she continued. “I’d see them on set, and I didn’t notice any of it. And I hate that I didn’t see any of it, because you know damn well, as a mother today, then, mm-mm, I think I would’ve put my foot down, and we could duke it out.” Nickelodeon offered the following statement to EW about the documentary: “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct. Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.” A new episode of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV is set to premiere on Sunday, April 7 at 8 p.m. on ID. The first four episodes of the series are streaming on Max. If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor. Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Related content: Pedophiles on set, sexism in the writers' room: Everything said about Nickelodeon on Quiet on Set Dan Schneider responds to Quiet on Set documentary allegations: 'There's definitely things that I would do differently' Dan Schneider's former assistant calls Nickelodeon producer a 'psychological tormenter'