Matthew Underwood says he was the victim of sexual harassment and assault at the hands of a former agent during the peak of his early fame.
The “Zoey 101” actor made the troubling accusation in a note posted to Instagram on Saturday. His statement was issued in response to the Investigation Discovery docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” which looks closely at numerous allegations of toxicity at Nickelodeon throughout the late ’90s and 2000s.
“When I was 19, I was sexually harassed and then assaulted by my agent at the time, who had spent a decent amount of time building trust with me as a friend and mentor,” Underwood, now 33, wrote. “I reported him to the agency and he has since been fired ― although he is still active in the industry. The experience provoked my move away from LA and ended my pursuit of acting.”
Though Underwood does not identify his assailant by name, he said he was compelled to speak out after being called a “pedophile defender” following the release of “Quiet on Set,” which includes abuse claims leveled at “Zoey 101” creator Dan Schneider, among other crew members.
“I’m sharing this with hope that some of you can recognize that just because a person doesn’t shout from the rooftops that pedophiles are bad or that people can suck ― that does Not mean they don’t have their own reasons for staying silent, good reasons, personal reasons,” he wrote. “I have extreme empathy for anyone who has been taken advantage of by people they trusted.”
“Zoey 101,” which ran on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008, followed the life of Zoey Brooks (played by Jamie Lynn Spears), who enrolls at a prestigious California boarding school that previously allowed only boys to attend. Underwood starred as Logan Reese, the son of a film and TV producer who becomes the boyfriend of Zoey’s pal, Quinn Pensky (Erin Sanders).
As Underwood suggested in his note, his acting credits became scarce after “Zoey 101” wrapped. He did, however, reprise the role of Logan in the sequel film “Zoey 102,” which was released on Paramount+ last year.
In the caption accompanying his note, Underwood clarified that his claims were not related to his current agents, Lauren Green and Sam Hampton of Modern Artists Entertainment, whom he described as “incredible humans who are sincere, genuine, and smart professionals.”
As for the allegations against Schneider, Underwood stated: “I never had a bad experience working on set of a Nickelodeon show and I never had a bad experience with Dan. I have nothing to add to the conversation that anyone would care to hear.”
“I like to believe people have the capacity to be better humans and Dan appears to recognize that he had been an asshole in his past,” he continued. “I like to believe he is fully capable of being a creator and coworker everyone can enjoy working with.”
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.