Zoey 101 alum Alexa Nikolas was among a group of people who congregated outside Nickelodeon's studios last week to protest their "unsafe" working conditions for child actors.
Nikolas, who starred on the Nickelodeon kid's show Zoey 101 was pictured holding up a sign that read: "Nickelodeon didn't protect me."
The 30-year-old actor portrayed Nicole Bristow on the hit kid's show Zoey 101, alongside Jamie Lynn Spears, and alleged that she did not feel safe around the show's creator, Dan Schneider, calling him "the creator of childhood trauma," per Newsweek.
She continued: "[Schneider] played a huge role in my personal childhood trauma. I did not feel safe around Dan Schneider while working at Nickelodeon, actually every time he came on set my body got extremely tense. Later on, in Season 2, he yelled at me and made me cry."
Schneider worked on a number of popular kid's shows on Nickelodeon in the early 00s including iCarly, Victorious, Zoey 101, and Drake and Josh.
According to a 2021 New York Times article, Schneider was eventually axed from network due to his alleged sexually inappropriate and verbally abusive behavior towards child actors.
Nikolas referenced this behavior in an Instagram live she recorded during the protest, stating: "I did not feel protected at Nickelodeon as a child, personally [...] I'm demanding that Nickelodeon starts protecting children and not predators."
Nikolas further continued with her disturbing claims, saying on her Instagram live: "There was footage on Zoey 101 alone that when I look back now, I'm deeply uncomfortable by it [...] An adult should know how that could be seen to others."
"Nobody did anything about the abuse that was happening on the set of Zoey 101," Nikolas added. "Children on Nickelodeon were not safe, at least at the time when I was on it [...] What's deeply concerning to me is that Nickelodeon has not given a comment to, for example, Jennette McCurdy, even to me, I've come forward multiple times, they've never given me an apology."
"Aren't you guys supposed to be the adults?" Nikolas protested on the Instagram live. "And we were the children? If we were traumatized on your sets, we deserve an apology. This is concerning when it comes to kids' shows. We're talking about kids' shows — and we were not safe."
The former child star is the face of Eat Predators, an organization tirelessly dedicated to advocating for survivors of child sexual abuse. It was members of this organization who joined Nikolas in her protest in front of Nickelodeon's Burbank studios.
The group has previously protested in front of Sony Music and Warner Music Group's studios in Los Angeles, advocating for sexual abuse survivors in the music industry, Variety reported.
The protest comes in the wake of Jennette McCurdy's explosive memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died, in which the former iCarly star alleged she was abused during her time as an actor on Nickelodeon. McCurdy also previously revealed that the kid's network offered her $300,000 in hush money to keep quiet about her employment there, per VT.
Other worrying allegations include McCurdy recalling that she was photographed in a bikini for a Nickelodeon wardrobe fitting, and being given alcohol whilst still a minor.
Schneider has denied many of the distressing claims against him, stating that they were "ridiculous lies." The disgraced former producer also said: "The comedy was totally innocent. I couldn't, and I wouldn't have the long-term friendships and continued loyalty from so many reputable people if I'd mistreated my actors of any age, especially minors," VT detailed.