Ariana Grande, one of Nickelodeon’s breakout stars, reflected on her time at the network after abuse allegations by her network colleagues emerged in the documentary series “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.” The “Victorious” and “Sam & Cat” alumna, who worked on those series with controversial Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider, appeared to process her feelings about the work in real time, empathizing with the “devastating” allegations made by survivors and former co-stars in the bombshell Investigation Discovery documentary . (Schneider recently sued the creators of “Quiet on Set” for defamation, calling the series a “hit job” and saying it falsely implied he was involved in child sex abuse.
) The Grammy winner and “Wicked” star asserted that her personal experience was “beautiful.” However, she insisted that when it comes to child acting, the environment “just needs to be made safer all around.” She also took issue with some of the racier jokes and innuendos that her series called for.
“A lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through performing at that level at such a young age,” Grande said this week on Penn Badgley’s “Podcrushed” podcast , “but also dealing with some of the things that the survivors have come forward — there’s not a word for how devastating that is to hear about.” Her relationship to child acting “has and is currently” changing as she works through her experience, and.