Zoey 101 alum Alexa Nikolas says she’s settled her defamation suit against former NBC News reporter Kat Tenbarge, who has posted a lengthy apology on social media.
Nikolas sued Tenbarge in September, accusing her of defamation involving the sharing of records about Drake Bell, another Nickelodeon alum. Nikolas and Bell both participated in the 2024 Quiet on Set docu-series that looked into toxic behavior on the set of some of the biggest children’s shows of the 1990s and 2000s.
“This lawsuit is about a propogandist masquerading as a journalist,” the lawsuit read. Tenbarge “falsely stated that Alexa publicly disclosed sealed court documents and police records to attack an underage victim claiming sexual abuse. None of this was true. The court documents and police records were public. Nor did Alexa — a well-known advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and assault — attack the victim. Rather, Alexa reviewed court documents and police records — which brought the public narrative surrounding claims of the underage victim into doubt.
“To advance this false narrative and obtain negative information on Alexa at all costs, Tenbarge facilitated Alexa’s stalker’s violation of the restraining order issued against him. Further, Tenbarge relied on anonymous and other clearly biased sources to advance her false narrative about Alexa. When Alexa provided Tenbarge information demonstrating that the court documents and police records in question were public, Tenbarge ignored that information.
“This lawsuit is to hold Tenbarge accountable for intentionally and knowingly prioritizing the dissemination of false narratives over the truth to advance her public standing.”
Nikolas had previously posted in 2024: “Kat lied to everyone. And defamed me. With malicious intent. These documents shared privately to her via a Gdrive when questioned by her were not SEALED. I sent them to show her that they were not sealed. They are public redacted records.”
Nikolas had been asking for compensatory damages of at least $150,000 along with punitive damages and the cost of her attorneys’ fees.
On Saturday, Nikolas posted that the parties have settled.
“Kat Tenbarge and I have settled,” she wrote on X. “Here is her written apology. The truth always prevails. I will be making a video in the upcoming days.”
Nikolas linked to Tenbarge’s own X post, in which the latter issued a lengthy apology along with her version of what she did wrong. It’s unclear if the public apology is part of the settlement.
“On March 9, 2024, days before Quiet on Set aired, series producer and Business Insider journalist Kate Taylor sent Nikolas a number of redacted Ohio court and police records concerning her fellow documentary participant Drake Bell,” Tenbarge wrote. “Taylor obtained these documents via a records request. The documents were not obtained from Bell or his attorneys. Over a month later, Nikolas shared these documents with me as part of her response to a series of questions I sent her for a proposed article, which was never published. In response to those questions, Nikolas provided me with the redacted Ohio court and police records concerning Mr. Bell. Eventually, in September 2024, I responded to posts and a livestream Nikolas made on X and YouTube about me and this proposed article with a series of comments of my own. In these comments, I erroneously stated that the Bell documents Nikolas shared with me were sealed records and released personal identifying information on the victim. However, these documents are not sealed and did not contain personal identifying information on the victim. They are public records and all personal identifying information was redacted. I regret this error and am committed to exercising greater caution in the future. Since making these comments online, I have learned the true nature of these documents and how Nikolas obtained them.”
Tenbarge wrote that she “understand[s] that my comments caused Nikolas distress and may have impacted her reputation.”
She added that “third parties, including my friend Adam McIntyre and Ophie Dokie,” have included this false information in videos of their own and called for any such videos to be remvoed.
“I apologize to Alexa for any harm my comments caused her,” she wrote.
In addition, Tenbarge backtracked previous questioning of Nikolas about her group Eat Predators, aimed at ending the “cover-up of sexual abuse and predatory behavior within the music and entertainment industry,” according to its website. Tenbarge had asked Nikolas, founder of the group, about “conflicts regarding this group.”
“I now understand that Alexa was solely responsible for the creation of Eat Predators and that she did not co-opt other members’ ideas,” Tenbarge wrote. “She did not represent the group solely as an ambassador, but rather led the group. … Conflicts that broke out afterward were not started by Alexa, but rather by other individuals. Notably, there was never any evidence Alexa defrauded members of Eat Predators, including through the group’s Patreon account.”
She added that she had used information posted by X accounts called “Exposing Rich” and “Abuse of Power” that made”various false, unsubstantiated, and unverified comments about Alexa and Eat Predators.” She admitted that she had not vetted or verified those claims against Nikolas and that they were also “biased against Alexa”.
“I regret any interactions I had with these accounts or any misplaced trust in content they posted or otherwise engaged with,” she wrote. “To rely on or engage with these accounts causes real-world harm, and for that I apologize, too. I will exercise greater judgment with regards to engaging with and trusting anonymous accounts in the future.”
Tenbarge also apologized for a line of questioning about a retraining order Nikolas took out against a stalker, specifically some allegations the individual made against Nikolas. “I recognize that these questions were harmful to Alexa’s wellbeing and I apologize for asking them,” she wrote.
Tenbarge ended with a list of things she promised to do a better job with in the future as it relates to her job.
“I regret any other lapses in judgment that may have occurred throughout this process and will do better moving forward,” she wrote. “I will independently verify claims made by anonymous accounts, approach sources’ biases with greater sensitivity, and exercise skepticism around these types of sources. I will also exercise significantly greater caution when engaging with biased sources or people who have been shown to victimize others.”
Tenbarge was laid off from her job as a tech and culture reporter at NBC News in February 2025 after three years at the news outlet. She went on to launch her own newsletter, Spitfire News, which focuses on “internet culture, politics and media,” according to its BlueSky account.
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