Nickelodeon, a children's television network, has been under fire recently for allegedly mistreating Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande, who both appear on the show Sam & Cat.
As a result of the shocking publication of McCurdy's new memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died, in which the author describes the alleged abuse she endured while working for Nickelodeon, many people on social media have criticised footage of a young Ariana Grande playing Cat Valentine.
Fans claim that the network sexualizes and childishly portrays Grande onscreen. The actor and pop artist previously portrayed Sam & Cat on Nickelodeon's Victorious as well as the bouncy, spacey Cat.
@VERONASFILMS recently compiled clips of a young Grande playing Cat in video blogs for TheSlap, a made-up social networking site used by characters from Victorious, in a popular Twitter thread.
In the video, which was shot in Cat's bedroom, the adolescent actress can be seen putting her fingers and toes in her mouth while staring into the camera, lying on her back while pouring water over her face and lips, trying to “juice” a potato while squealing and grunting, and shouting, “I'm soaking wet!”
“I don't know why, but everyone keeps bringing ariana grande into the stan issue with Jennette. Let's not forget that Ariana is also a victim of Dan Schneider's creepiness (creator of iCarly, Victorious, and Sam & Cat), “The video, which has received more than 3.3 million views on Twitter, was captioned by @VERONASFILMS.
“She no longer discusses the cat valentine role for this reason. She was sexualized and treated like an infant.”
After exchanging a few more “@VERONASFILMS stated that Grande and Victoria Justice, another cast member from Triumphant, “had every right not to talk about what transpired on the victorious set. There were a lot of unpleasant and dirty things happening. She doesn't want to talk about cat Valentine if she doesn't want to or experience that tragedy!”
Schneider, who originated and scripted scores of episodes of iCarly, Victorious, and Sam & Cat, appears to be the target of much of the criticism.
Many people blamed Schneider after McCurdy said that she had experienced emotional abuse and unwanted touching from someone she refers to only as “The Creator” in her frank book.
Requests for comment from a Schneider spokesperson were not immediately entertained.
“I'm being offered $300,000 in hush money by Nickelodeon to keep quiet about my experience on the show. My firsthand encounter with abuse from The Creator?” McCurdy penned a book.
“This network features kid-friendly programming. They ought to have some kind of moral compass, right? Shouldn't they at least make an effort to adhere to some form of moral code?”
In her popular memoir, which was published on August 9, McCurdy discusses Grande, whom she claims to have coveted and despised while working on Sam & Cat. Grande's expanding music career and the spinoff show clashed, thus the singer was frequently absent from the set, which led McCurdy to get “pissed at” and “jealous” of her scene partner.
“I've had it with being a good sport. I hate playing the good sport, “She composes.
“I wouldn't be in this situation if I wasn't such a good sport in the first place. If I were on this show, I wouldn't be wearing this hairstyle and saying these lines on the set. That's the way it is. While I perform my performance with a box, Ariana misses work to pursue her singing career.”
Requests for response from the Los Angeles Times were not immediately answered by representatives for Grande or Nickelodeon. LA Times/Tribune News Service