Ariana Grande Fans Appalled By Video Showing How ‘Victorious’ “Sexualized and Infantilized” Her as a Teen

After iCarly star Jennette McCurdy revealed her disturbing past as a Nickelodeon child star in her explosive memoir, the network has been under intense scrutiny, specifically for series created by Dan Schneider. Now, a tweet calling out Schneider’s work with Ariana Grande is drawing even more attention to the network and one of its most prolific creators.

Grande, who starred on both Victorious and its spinoff, Sam & Cat (which also featured McCurdy), was the talk of Twitter this week after a post claimed she was “sexualized and infantilized” in her role as Cat Valentine.

The Twitter user @VERONASFILMS posted a compilation of footage showing Grande in character as Cat, which included moments where the then-teenage Grande moans while squeezing a large potato, pours water all over her chest and puts her own toes in her mouth. The video was originally posted on YouTube in 2019 by the user Skarlett Akira.

“Everyone keeps bringing ariana grande for stan drama against jennette and idk why. let’s not forget, ariana is a victim herself from the creepiness of dan schneider,” the tweet read. “this is why she doesn’t talk about the role of cat valentine anymore. they sexualized and infantilized her.”

An additional tweet read, “all of TheSlap segments of victorious were written by dan schneider so ofc… there’s another one with victoria justice that involved putting ketchup on her feet. it keeps getting worse… i need a full investigation on this man NOW!”

TheSlap was a fictional social media website that operated within the Victorious universe and featured clips and posts from the series stars. While the website was live and accessible for years, it now redirects to the general Nickelodeon website. According to Buzzfeed News, Cat’s segments on TheSlap were written and directed by Schneider.

Grande was 16 when she filmed the segments, which included moments where she stuck a finger in her mouth and another instance where she yells, “I’m soaking wet,” per Buzzfeed.

McCurdy shares her own troubling experiences on set in her memoir, and while she never names Schneider in her book, she does repeatedly refer to an individual named “The Creator” who she claims pressured her to drink alcohol underage and massaged her shoulders.

Nickelodeon ended their relationship with Schneider in 2018, years after he created shows like All That, The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and iCarly. No specific accusations were made public against Schneider at the time of his dismissal from the network, but The New York Times reported that he had been accused of verbal abuse by some of the people he worked with.

In the same Times story, Schneider defended his work with the network and pushed back against allegations of sexualization in his children’s TV shows. He told the outlet that videos like the one shared from TheSlap are “ridiculous” and denied sexualizing the actors.

“The comedy was totally innocent,” he said.