Devon Werkheiser, Daniel Lee Curtis and Lindsey Shaw.Photo:Leon Bennett/Getty Images for Universal Pictures; Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Emmerson; Robin L Marshall/Getty
Leon Bennett/Getty Images for Universal Pictures; Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Emmerson; Robin L Marshall/Getty
Several days after the stars ofNed’s Declassifiedwent onTikTok Liveand appeared to joke about the abuse their Nickelodeon colleagues allegedly faced while working as child actors on the network,Devon Werkheiser, Daniel Curtis Lee andLindsey Shawissued an apology on their podcast.
The three actors admitted that they “f—ed up” on Friday’s episode, which was released afterDrake Bell— whocame forward as a victim of sexual assaultin the docuseries —condemned what they posted.
Werkheiser, 33, and Lee, 32, clarified that in the TikTok Live, which viewers took screen recordings of and shared on social media, Lee was having trouble editing audio for their podcast that he thought had been deleted while Werkheiser made a “s— joke.”
“If you haven’t seen the clip, if you haven’t seen what’s going on, we were on a a TikTok Live being asked to comment on theQuiet on Setdocumentary, which we hadn’t seen, and a super s— joke came out that was referenced at Daniel [Curtis Lee] and looked like I was talking about Drake [Bell],” Werkheiser explained of the footage, in which he tells Daniel, who is off-screen, “We told you never to speak about that. Get back in your hole, Daniel. And give me your holes.”
Lee said, “That statement was directed to me in the extreme way that we disparage each other,” and he later shared that the incident made him “think why am I so privileged as to be able to joke in those ways.”
“Now, having seen the documentary, it’s disturbing,” Werkheiser, who played the titular Ned, added. “Now, we’ve watched it and I get it. If I had just watched especially that third episode and then watched us joking like that … I would be like, ‘Are they sociopaths? Is something wrong with them?'”
Daniel Curtis Lee, Lindsey Shaw, Devon Werkheiser and Drake Bell.Drew Bly Pockets/Shutterstock; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Thirst Project
Drew Bly Pockets/Shutterstock; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Thirst Project
“I have to say when I saw our little f—ing TikTok clip and that Drake had retweeted it, I was just watching his interview [inQuiet on Set]. And someone sent me that he had retweeted it and then I saw the clip and like … I put out a f—ing apology immediately. I felt like a piece of s—,” Werkheiser said in response. “I know it looks like I’m laughing at this and I f—ing wasn’t, but I know what it looks like, and that Drake saw it … yeah. I just felt so f—ing awful, knowing that Drake saw us in that context.”
Shaw also spoke about how they shouldn’t have had any “insensitivity” as the docuseries was airing. “I hate that this happened. I hate that we compounded any trauma around this situation that means so much to each of us,” she shared.
“I am sorry. I know that that even when there wasn’t an intention or malice behind things people have done for me, I know that it has just helped me when people meet me where I am and recognize like, ‘Hey that was a gut punch, whether it was intentional or not,'” she added. “And, yeah, gut punches suck.”
Lindsey Shaw, Devon Werkheiser and Daniel Curtis Lee while starring on ‘Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide’.SGranitz/WireImage
SGranitz/WireImage
During the podcast, the three also commended the individuals who spoke out, calling them “brave.”
Werkheiser also noted, at one point, that he’s often been asked about his thoughts on former Nickelodeon executiveDan Schneider, who was the subject of many of the abuse allegations made in the docuseries, but said he never responded because theNed’s Declassifiedcrew “didn’t work with him.”
Among the allegations, Bell revealed that dialogue coachBrian Peckwas convicted in 2004 for molesting him over a six-month period when he was about 15 years old and working at Nickelodeon.
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If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
source: people.com
