Dora The Explorer Voice Suing Nickelodeon

Dora the Explorer isn’t playing nice anymore. Caitlin Sanchez, the 14-year-old girl who has voiced the lovable animated Nickelodeon traveler since 2007, claims that she was cheated out of “millions, perhaps tens of millions” of dollars. Sanchez, a New Jersey resident, alleges she and her parents were coerced into signing an “unconscionable” contract by Nickelodeon and her own agent, Jason Bercy of Cunningham Escott Slevin Doherty Talent Agency. The actress was allegedly forced to travel the country promoting the show for a “meager travel stipend of $40 a day.” Sanchez’s attorney, John Balestriere, said he’d “never seen as convoluted and inscrutable a contract.” The suit names Nickelodeon, Viacom, and MTV networks as the defendants (excluding Bercy) and claims they “used Caitlin, unjustly enriching themselves of millions of dollars in profits from the series and branded products, which Caitlin performed and promoted.” Bercy would not comment, and Viacom’s lawyer said they saw the suit coming. “It is completely without merit,” Michael Fricklas, general counsel for Viacom, told the New York Daily News.