Matthew Underwood is talking about ‘Quiet on Set’ – and although he says he was never mistreated while working as a child star… he claims he was mistreated in the industry.
The “Zoey 101” star posted a lengthy statement Friday on his social accounts explaining why he had not said anything publicly about the new document — which chronicles different allegations billed by the network’s former child stars — and he explains his reasoning.
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MU writes: “We all want to live in a better world. This requires that we all treat each other with empathy and not make assumptions about people’s personal experiences.”
He adds: “We are all feeling pain right now and I can understand if you are angry, but harassing people who maintain their privacy and wishing death on their families is not a way to make this world better and safer for all of us. #QuietOnSet.”
In the post itself, Matt reveals that he was molested by a friend’s stepfather at age 12 – and claims he was sexually harassed and assaulted by a former agent at age 19. Los Angeles entirely.
In terms of what was alleged in the document itself, Matt says that simply wasn’t his experience – noting that he enjoyed his time working for Nickelodeon and with Daniel Schneider.
His main point, though, is that the people who watched the doc persecuted him, his family, and his colleagues who said nothing… something we’ve seen happen to other people in this saga, including Josh Peck – whose comments on social media were flooded with hate.
There are many other former Nick stars who have remained silent – but it seems they may have their reasons and, more importantly, they are not obligated to join the conversation.