Dora The Explorer Suing Nickelodeon

The 14 year old girl who is the voice of Dora The Explorer is suing Nickelodeon saying she has been cheated out of tens of millions of dollars. Caitlin Sanchez has been the voice for Dora since she was 12. At the time she signed up, Nickelodeon offered to pay her about $5000 an episode plus residuals and some compensation for merchandising.

The suit says that her parents were pressured to sign a 14 page contract and were only given 22 minutes to sign it, and were not allowed to see a lawyer. Although their agent is not named in the suit, it seems to me that he is the one who should be sued. The parents say that the agent kept telling them that unless they signed right that second, Nickelodeon would find a new Dora and that if she pushed too much they would also replace her.

Now, there seem to be about a million episodes of Dora so I'm sure Caitlin did get some money. She says in her suit that the contract was complicated and that she has been denied lots of the merchandising compensation she is owed and that she traveled the country promoting the show but only got $40 a day when she did.

For their part, Nickelodeon says the suit is without merit. The thing is it is tough to look good when you are the big bad corporate monster and the person suing you is a 14 year old girl.