Alexa Nikolas, a former child star, demonstrated against child abuse in front of the Nickelodeon studios. For three years, Nikolas played Nicole Bristow on the Nickelodeon television program Zoey 101. She is the second actress in recent days to criticize Nickelodeon and describe horrible experiences she had during a minor working for the studio. Her accusations came soon after Jennette McCurdy’s new book, I’m Glad My Mom Died, which described her harrowing experiences working on the set of the Nickelodeon sitcom, iCarly, was published.
After leaving Nickelodeon, Nikolas became active in the community by founding the Eat Predators group, which supports victims of sexual assault. The group had previously convened and demonstrated in front of numerous significant music labels. They want to spread awareness about the prevalence of abuse in the music industry since they believe the #MeToo movement mostly ignored this sector. As a victim of abuse who has been vocal about her experiences, Nikolas is now using her group to expose businesses that cover up violence. Her group has recently focused on Nickelodeon because it is deeply concerned about the entertainment business as a whole.
Nikolas posted a video of her and other protesters assembling outside the Nickelodeon studios to voice their opposition to child sex abuse on Instagram. She may be seen in the video holding a banner that reads, “Nickelodeon didn’t protect me.” Other demonstrations had signs that ask, “How many NDAs?” How many children are there? and “Protect kids, not wolves.” But far more startling were the countless posters with names and pictures of people who had worked at Nickelodeon, including Dan Schneider, Fred Savage, Ezel Channel, Brian Peck, and many more. All of these people were either found guilty or accused of being predators. Watch Nikolas in the video down below:
Nikolas’ demonstrations are successful in posing some challenging questions to Nickelodeon that unquestionably demand responses. Nickelodeon’s effort to pay McCurdy $300,000 in “hush money” was one shocking revelation in her memoir. This has caused some people to wonder how many additional possible victims may have signed NDAs or paid hush money to cover up Nickelodeon’s wrongdoings. Now that McCurdy and Nikolas have both described experiencing trauma while working on the Nickelodeon set, it is clear that there is a larger issue at hand. What remains to be shown is how widespread it truly is and how many victims there really are. Nikolas also made use of her demonstration to gently warn survivors that their window of opportunity to demand justice may be closing. Her protest, hopefully, will inspire others to speak up, knowing they have support.
It is unclear what effect Nikolas’ protest will have, but it is promising that she is working to ensure justice for the studio’s victims. It is completely unacceptable the trauma, humiliations, unfairness, and predatory behavior that Nikolas and McCurdy have both described. But what really hurts is Nikolas’ tragic admission that Nickelodeon failed to shield her. She was a defenseless youngster who was taken inside the Nickelodeon studios so that they could capitalize on her potential, but it seemed that they were more interested in supporting and shielding predators than they were in keeping her safe. Although it is unclear to what extent Nickelodeon encouraged or shielded pedophiles, Nikolas’ protest is a start in getting the studio to respond by providing answers and delivering justice.
Source: Alexa Nikolas