Former Nickelodeon stars Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies are being accused of allegedly accepted ‘hush money’ to remain tight-lipped on the growing Nickelodeon controversy.
via: The Blast
If you've seen the documentary television series on MAX, you'll know that the "dark side" of children's television was exposed as many child stars revealed what their experience was like working on popular Nickelodeon shows.
Both Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies have yet to speak on the release of the documentary, nor have they shared their experience working with the network, which has many convinced they took "hush money" from Nickelodeon.
Jennette McCurdy claims that Nickelodeon offered her $300,000 as a thank-you gift -- with the condition that she never talk publicly about her experiences on the show. She turned the money down and revealed her experience in her memoir 'I'm Glad My Mom Died'.
Now that the public knows about McCurdy's claims, many are convinced the network also offered other stars "hush money", and fingers are being pointed at stars who have yet to speak out on their experiences with Nickelodeon.
Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies, who both starred in 'Victorious', are among those stars.
In a social media post from Gillies, many have flooded the comments section, accusing her and Grande of taking "hush money."
"So both of y’all took the hush money?" one user asked. "How much hush money did Dan [Schneider] give you to keep quiet?" another wrote.
"Definitely signed NDAs," one user suggested.
Others pointed out how Gillies is still following Dan Schneider on her Instagram. "Why are you still following Dan [Schneider]?" one of her followers asked.
While many slammed the former Nickelodeon stars for remaining quiet, others stood up for them. "All of you in this comment section are so WEIRD," one of Gillies's followers said, adding, "Quit blaming victims and remember that no one owes you their trauma. This is serious stuff real people had to go through, and you’re all treating it like some silly gossip you can’t wait to get more of."
This is something that 'Zoey 101' actor Matthew Underwood also expressed in his recent social media post. “Please take a moment and consider that some people might not be making statements because talking about this kind of thing brings up memories and emotions that are difficult to deal with, and they have every right to be silent,” the former child actor said in his statement.
"Please reconsider harassing other actors who wish to maintain their privacy – you never know who has already been a victim of h-ll you’re wishing upon them," he added.
While Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies have yet to speak on the docuseries, many other stars have come forward, including Drake Bell, who was not only part of the documentary, but has slammed Nickelodeon for the way they handled the accusations.
“There’s a very well-tailored response saying, ‘Learning about his trauma,’ because they couldn’t say that they didn’t know about this or what had happened, or anything,” he said on The Sarah Fraser Show podcast. “So I think that was a really well-tailored response by probably some big attorney in Hollywood.”
He went on, “I find it pretty empty, their responses, because, I mean, they still show our shows, they still put our shows on and I have to pay for my own therapy, I have to figure out what — I mean if there was anything, if there was any truth behind them actually caring, there would be something more than quotes on a page by obviously a legal representative telling them exactly how to tailor a response.”
Former Nickelodeon star Alexa Nikolas slammed Dan Schneider following his apology, accusing him of "playing the sympathy card."
“When someone doesn’t personally come to you and apologize, it’s not an apology,” she said in her YouTube video. “If you hear about it through other people, it’s not really an apology, right? An apology is to the person that you hurt…. I would’ve appreciated if Dan apologized directly to me…. Where’s a phone call of an apology? How come you can do [that video]…but not reach out to the person that [you] hurt?”
The Blast has reached out to reps for both Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies.
Upon looking deeper into this story, I had no idea that fans were accusing Nickelodeon of sexualizing Ariana as far bas as in 2022 when Jeanette McCurdy released her memoir.
Do I think Ariana took hush money? I do believe she went through some things at the network, and her silence got her paid in the form of her mainstream pop career.
Comments