Zoey 101 star Matthew Underwood has revealed he was repeatedly sexually abused as a child actor, as he defended his silence amid allegations against Nickelodeon boss Dan Schneider.
The 33-year-old, who played Logan Reese on four seasons of the hit show, said he had received a torrent of hate messages for not speaking out following abuse allegations exposed in Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids. TELEVISION.
Former child stars, including Drake Bell and Alexa Nikolas, detailed how they were attacked by staff and accused Schneider of bullying, sexism and racism.
But Nickelodeon’s Underwood said many had good reason to remain silent as he revealed he was forced to leave the industry because of the sexual abuse he suffered.
“When I was 12, my best friends’ stepfather groomed and sexually abused me,” she wrote on Instagram.
Matthew Underwood has broken his silence on abuse allegations at Nickelodeon
Underwood played Logan, the popular PCA kid, on the hit TV show Zoey 101.
Zoey 101 cast members (top row, from left): Sean Flynn, Matthew Underwood, Christopher Massey, (center): Erin Sanders, Jamie Lynn Spears
‘When I was 19, I was sexually harassed and then assaulted by my agent at the time, who had spent a good amount of time building trust in me as a friend and mentor.
‘Once again, 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 caused him to move me away from Los Angeles and ended my pursuit of acting.”
Underwood, who reprized his role as Logan in the 2023 romantic comedy Zoey 102, said that “a lot of people have been blowing up my email” and that some critics had labeled him a “pedophile advocate” for his silence.
“I imagine many of my friends in the business will be similarly harassed if they don’t join the choir,” he wrote on Instagram.
“So I’m sharing this in the hopes 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 be shit, that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own reasons.” to do so. keep silent, good reasons, personal reasons.’
Underwood did not name the officer he accused of abusing him and insisted he would not join the backlash against Schneider.
Underwood has revealed that she was subjected to two cases of abuse during her adolescence: once when she was 12 years old and again by an anonymous agent when she was 19. She appears in the Zoey 101 photo.
Underwood (second from right) is pictured with her cast members on Zoey 101.
The Nickelodeon actor, 33, appears in the photo with another of the network’s stars, Victoria Justice, who had her own show ‘Victorious’
Underwood took to social media to reveal her past traumas, which she said she had kept secret.
Underwood (left) appears on the set of the Zoey 101 Halloween episode.
The former child actor asked to stop harassing him for not speaking out amid the accusations against Dan Schneider
“I’ve never had a bad experience working on the set of a Nickelodeon show and I’ve never had a bad experience with Dan,” she wrote. ‘I have nothing to add to the conversation that anyone would like to hear.
“I like to believe that people have the ability to be better humans and Dan seems to recognize that he had been a jerk in his past.
‘I like to believe that he is fully capable of being a creator and a co-worker that everyone can enjoy working with.
“I can’t believe I have to say this, but of course I don’t support pedophiles.”
“Please stop wishing death on my family and reconsider harassing other actors who wish to maintain their privacy; you never know who has already fallen victim to the hell you are wishing on them.”
Schneider, who began working at the network in 1993, is said to have “launched the careers of child actors who became major stars,” including Miranda Cosgrove, Jamie Lynn Spears and Ariana Grande.
The HBO documentary Quiet on Set: the Dark Side of Kids TV also detailed the conviction of former Nickelodeon dialogue coach and actor Brian Peck, who sexually abused child star Drake Bell when she was 15 years old.
Showrunner Dan Schneider, who was previously described as ‘Nickelodeon’s golden boy’, began working at the network in 1993 (pictured with Ariana Grande).
Jennette McCurdy (pictured with Dan Schneider in 2013) said she was ‘dating’ a producer in his 30s when she was 15 during her role on the Nickelodeon show iCarly.
But he was then inundated with accusations before being sued over allegations of gender discrimination, hostile work environment and harassment, many of which were revealed in the new documentary.
Child safety activists claim the channel was infiltrated by predators who saw the power it gave them as a way to get closer to their victims.
And court records show he employed or worked with five child molesters, as well as two others accused of pedophilia.
The abusers include Jason Handy, a Nickelodeon production assistant who had sexual contact with a nine-year-old girl; and Ezell Channel, hired as a production assistant at the cable channel after a child sex crime conviction, and later arrested for sexually assaulting an underage teenager in the studio.
Marty Weiss, a talent manager who placed clients on top Nickelodeon shows, was later convicted of “lewd acts” with a 12-year-old male client.
Dan Schneider broke his silence following the release of an explosive documentary that made shocking claims about the “toxic environment” at Nickelodeon during his tenure.
Underwood with other cast members of Zoey 101, which was one of the channel’s biggest hits.
And Cody Longo, late star of the 2012 TeenNick show Hollywood Heights, was accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in Colorado in 2019 and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge two years later.
The HBO documentary Quiet on Set: the Dark Side of Kids TV also detailed the conviction of former Nickelodeon speech coach and actor Brian Peck, who sexually abused child star Drake Bell when she was 15 years old.
He went on to work at Disney after his conviction.
Bell himself was later convicted of distributing child pornography, after allegations emerged that he groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old boy.
Schneider, 58, admitted last week that he had previously overstepped professional boundaries and admitted he owed “some people a pretty strong apology.”