The View co-host Sunny Hostin questioned why Ariana Grande hasn’t spoken out in a recent episode of the show.
Earlier this month (Mar 17), Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV debuted on Investigation Discovery. In the show, cast and crew members from multiple Nickelodeon series open up about their negative experiences on set. There are allegations of abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate behaviour from people who’ve worked on popular kids’ shows like iCarly, Victorious and Drake & Josh.
The documentary also contains multiple supercuts of content from Nickelodeon shows in which it appears that child actors including Jamie Lynn Spears and Ariana Grande are being sexualised. Various clips of Ariana on the Victorious webseries Cat’s Random Thoughts have since resurfaced online with many people calling them out for their sexual nature.
Following the release of Quiet On Set, people have called on Ariana to speak out including The View co-host Sunny Hostin.
In a new episode of The View, Sunny suggested that the stars of the Nickelodeon shows featured in Quiet On Set should be speaking out in support of the victims. She said: “I think if you are a true ally, you do speak out. I think that it takes a lot of bravery and courage to be an ally. You should not only speak out after the fact, you should speak out in the moment.”
Sunny’s co-hosts then suggested that it’s different because these actors were kids when they were in these shows. Sunny then said: “They were kids but it applies universally. They shouldn’t have to be bullied as adults to speak out and support someone.”
Discussing Ariana specifically, Sunny said: “We don’t know [if she witnessed anything] but she is an adult now. Is silence complicity or not?”
She added: “If you’re public and you have a platform, you should use the voice for good and to help survivors publicly.”
Following Sunny’s comments, people have taken to Twitter/X to rush to Ariana’s defence and call out people for suggesting that the then-child actors involved in these shows are obliged to speak out.
One person tweeted: “really don’t like how a documentary meant to give victims a voice has turned into a witch hunt where people are gaslighting victims to speak on their trauma.”
Another wrote: “she was sexualized on national tv and we don’t even know what happened behind the scenes…so why are we blaming VICTIMS for not wanting to speak out?”
Sunny is yet to address the backlash. We shall update you if she does.
