Former child star Jack Salvatore, who played Mark Del Figgalo on “Zoey 101,” fired off about troubling things he said he experienced while working with Nickelodeon producer, Dan Schneider.
Schneider’s alleged conduct, especially towards young child stars, has recently made headlines, alongside that of his colleague, Brian Peck. Salvatore credited the docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” which dove into Peck’s alleged sexual assault on actor Drake Bell and allegations of Schneider’s toxic behavior, in an Instagram video posted Thursday that can be seen here.
Salvatore shared disturbing allegations about what he witnessed while working around Schneider. Salvatore says he worked in the writing room on “Sam & Cat” and “Victorious” and was a production intern on “iCarly.”
“We could talk about the massages,” he said. “We could talk about how sometimes he would bring out his shotgun to scare one of the writers when they were working at his house.”
Salvatore had a lot to say about what it was allegedly like to work with Schneider.
“We could talk about the fact that he would literally count his gold coin collection in front of his crew who was living paycheck to paycheck,” Salvatore alleged.
The actor went on to discuss some of the things he claims to have heard while onset.
“We could talk about the high-level conversations I wasn’t supposed to hear about how Nickelodeon didn’t want to recommend antidepressants for Jennette McCurdy after her mom died for fear that she might kill herself and make the network look bad,” he said.
Salvatore then told fans he was really trying to expose this alleged toxic behavior in an effort to protect others from having to live through it in the future.
“But what I do want to talk about is never letting this stuff happen again. This is an entire industry built on hope, and dreams, and adrenaline and wish fulfillment. And that can be a very dangerous thing for megalomaniacs to wield.”
“Even in posting this, I’m a little afraid,” Salvatore admitted in the video. (RELATED: Drake Bell’s Dad Says He Was Accused Of Being ‘Homophobic’ For Raising Alarm About Child Abuser Brian Peck)
“Is this going to screw up my career moving forward? I have no idea, but I think it’s important and it needs to be said. Because if my silence ensures the perpetuation of environments I don’t want to work in anymore then what is the point in working in them?”