As a society, we are often perceived as portraying psychiatric illness in a negative, stigmatizing, and even dangerous way. This causes many celebrities to hide their traumatic past in the industry as they think no one would believe them. They also feel at fault in the entire situation, but why are so many actors/actresses speaking out against their network experiences?
In recent months many Nickelodeon stars have opened up about their time at the network, discussing disturbing allegations about working conditions and behavior. Many have come forward to talk about one man in particular, Dan Schneider, a producer who had allegations of verbal abuse, sexualizing scenes and seemed hostile towards female writers.
Many might wonder why now? Why come forward after so many years? Truth be told we may never know why. All we do know is that a major issue is how to prevent others from feeling victimized by people who hold power and use their authority to prey on younger, less powerful people.
A common quote used among these Nickelodeon stars is “I did not feel safe around Dan Schneider” or “Nickelodeon didn’t protect me” “costumes for the shows were not age appropriate and very sexualized.” These stars are now older and understand that these events or situations were not their fault, it was the Channel’s fault as they were supposed to protect them while working on set. But instead, they just offered settlement money to never speak about the traumatic issues that went on in that studio.
How much longer would the channel keep protecting the producers or people higher up in the food chain that keep abusing their power over these young children/ adults. How much longer until the point gets across the board about how producers sexualize these young stars until something is done about this industry.
