Names and faces
▪ Matthew Underwood, former star of Nickelodeon’s “Zoey 101” and child actor, shared experiences of being sexually abused and assaulted on an Instagram post released in the wake of the “Quiet on Set” documentary. Underwood revealed that he had been groomed and molested when he was 12 years old by the stepfather of one of his friends and later was sexually assaulted by one of his own agents at age 19. In his post, he emphasized that just because he or other people weren’t coming forward to speak out about how things were in Hollywood, “that does not mean they don’t have their own reasons for staying silent, good reasons, personal reasons.” Underwood added people had been contacting him, saying things like they “hope me and my mom die and that we burn in hell.” He clarified in the Instagram caption that his agents now are “incredible human beings” and the experience he had was with an unnamed person. Underwood’s comments are among a surge of responses from former child actors and Nickelodeon cast members after the release of “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” a documentary that discussed abuse and other scandals that happened on Nickelodeon sets.
▪ Michael Stuhlbarg, the 55-year-old actor who portrayed gangster Arnold Rothstein in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” found himself caught in in his own crime report Monday. Police said that Stuhlbarg had been walking alone in a park near East 90th Street and East Drive in New York City before getting hit in the head by a rock tossed by a homeless man. Stuhlbarg then chased the man out of the park, where police stationed outside the Russian Consulate grabbed the suspect. 27-year-old Xavier Israel was charged with assault and had a pending arraignment set for Monday. According to court records, Israel has a history of mental illness. He was accused of carrying out three assaults during a 10-day span in or near Central Park in January 2022. The following May, prosecutors said Israel was unfit to stand trial for the first two assaults following a psychiatric evaluation, with the cases being dismissed and custody of Israel being transferred to the Office of Mental Health. He pleaded guilty for the third incident in October 2022, receiving a two-year sentence with a conditional parole release on Sept. 23 of this year.