Credit: Inside the MagicQuiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV kicked off a seismic wave in culture, in which millions of people were forced to re-think their nostalgia for Nickelodeon series like The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh in the wake of allegations of child actors dealing with horrifically hostile work environments, traumatic pressure, and sexual abuse. The series has only been out for 10 days, but more and more former child stars are coming forward to speak about their own experiences.
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Allie DiMeco, who portrayed bassist Rosalina in The Naked Brothers Band series, recently posted a video to TikTok in which she felt forced by producers to kiss an older male co-star, even though she voiced her opposition to it.
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In the video, Allie DiMeco describes the episode, saying, “There was an episode where Rosalina ‘cheated’ on Nat [Wolff[ and kind of kissed a French guy. He’s a 30-year-old man. I’m sorry, I couldn’t even watch it. It gives me f***ing the ick, and it honestly gives me PTSD.”
The former Nickelodeon star directly connected her memory of the event to the recent Investigation Discovery documentary series, which featured numerous other young actors like Drake Bell, Leon Frierson, Shane Lyons, Giovonnie Samuels, Bryan Hearne, and Raquel Lee.
Allie DiMeco continued, “I’m watching this Quiet on Set documentary, and it’s talking about how integral and vital it is to create — especially when it’s a kids cast — to create an environment where kids feel comfortable to say ‘No’ or ‘I don’t feel comfortable with this, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, maybe they do express that though, it’s also more important to create an environment that listens to the kids and actually does not make them do things when they don’t want to do them.’”
Allie DiMeco would have been 14-15 during that period of The Naked Brothers Band, which starred real-life brothers Nat Wolff and Alex Wolff as fictionalized versions of themselves who lead a rock band in New York City. The show was created by their mother, Polly Draper, and also featured their father, Michael Wolff, cousin Jesse Draper, and their real-life friends Thomas Batuello, David Levi, and Cooper Pillot.
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Despite the presumable familial atmosphere, DiMeco says she “told [producers] many times that I didn’t want to do it. My mom was very against it, and they pretty much made me feel like I was going to lose my job, that I might be fired if I didn’t do it. It was weird.”
That sounds very similar to what many other Nickelodeon child actors describe in the documentary series, many of whom were worried they would lose their jobs and be ostracized from the entertainment industry if they did not comply with what adult producers and writers demanded.
Have you seen Quiet On Set? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comments below.