Elizabeth Gillies revealed that she and Ariana Grande re-watched Victorious after the controversial documentary Quiet on Set about Nickelodeon’s TV shows came out. Elizabeth, 30, revealed that when the documentary came out, she hopped on the phone with the eternal sunshine popstar, 31, and they talked through all their feelings about the show. She revealed that she was very glad to be in touch with Ariana through it all in a new interview with Variety, published on Tuesday, July 16.
The Quiet on Set documentary focused on the behind-the-scenes workings of some of Nickelodeon’s most popular shows, mainly focusing on Dan Schneider and allegations of misconduct against him. Dan was the creator and showrunner for Victorious. After the documentary aired in the spring, the Dynasty actress revealed that she spoke to Ariana.
Elizabeth explained that she and Ariana were very open about their feelings while revisiting the documentary. “I certainly reevaluated my experience with Ariana over FaceTime. We watched it together, and then we got together later that week or the next week, and we sort of broke the whole thing down and talked about it, and reprocessed everything together,” she told the outlet. “There was a lot to go through.”
Elizabeth admitted to looking back on Victorious “incredibly positively,” but hindsight as an adult can “reframe the memories in your mind a little bit, or cloud them, or taint them — maybe rightfully so.” She also explained that she was happy to look back on it with the singer. “We definitely leaned on each other, talked amongst each other and checked in with each other,” she said.
Ariana had previously spoken about reflecting on Victorious‘ content in an interview on Penn Badgley‘s Podcrushed podcast. “Now, looking back on some of the clips, I’m like, ‘Damn, really? Oh, s**t’ … and the things that weren’t approved for the network were snuck onto, like, our website or whatever. I guess I’m upset, yeah ,” she said.
Following the documentary’s release, Nickelodeon released a statement. “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct,” the network said. “Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”