Uriah Shelton plays Pratters on 13 Reasons Why and played Joshua Matthews on Girl Meets World.
He has now been accused of some pretty serious violence. It’s enough that he has a court date … and is under a restraining order.
This … sounds bad.
A lot of Disney stars are truly wonderful people. Whether they go on to great success or fade into relative obscurity after their time as teen actors, they’re still treasures.
But that is, unfortunately, not always the case.
Remember when Sarah Hyland accused Matt Prokop of horrible domestic violence? She got a three-year restraining order against him, and the rest of us got a harsh dose of reality.
Because actors, even actors whom we all but watched grow up on Disney shows and movies, are just people. And some people are truly terrible.
Tragically, it looks like we have another name to add to that list of grim reminders.
This time, it’s an actor from Girl Meets World who has most recently starred in 13 Reasons Why.
Until now, 20-year-old Uriah Shelton was perhaps best known — outside of his acting roles — for his infamous feud with Girl Meets World costar Rowan Blanchard.
Though Uriah has acknowledged the feud publicly (sharing a message that he wrote to her that began with “I know you hate me,” even), we don’t know every detail.
It’s widely believed that Rowan and Uriah clashed over ideology. Rowan Blanchard is a very well-spoken feminist and advocate for minority rights.
Uriah Shelton has posted quite a few things that lead fans to believe that he feels very differently. Fans even noticed that he “liked” a post about the world not needing feminism.
That’s pretty cringey, but he was a teenager at the time and he’s still only 20. You figure that he has a lot of time to learn.
What he’s now been accused of is much more serious.
Uriah Shelton is accused of kicking a (now former) friend in the stomach.
According to documents obtained by People, the unnamed young woman was, until very recently, Uriah’s best friend.
(They also had a sexual relationship, so this may very well be counted as domestic violence even though they were friends with benefits rather than dating; it should count that way)
Apparently, the two of them argued after she attempted to block him from getting into his truck.
“I was standing in the way of his truck door [and] he kicked me in the stomach to get me out of the way.”
She describes Uriah as an “MMA fighter who competed [and] has won titles.”
(That is accurate — he was the 2006 ATA Tae Kwon Do California State Champion in all categories, “including sparring and extreme weapons.” He would have been just a kid at the time, but still)
The alleged kick sounds like serious business, as the unnamed young woman lists her injuries:
“Abdominal and chest trauma, internal muscle bruising, [and] inflamed intestines.”
Uriah also reportedly discussed his firearms collection in order to frighten her.
The court date is set for November 14th, but Uriah has been ordered to stay 100 feet away from his former friend and to attend therapy sessions in the mean time.
Interestingly, the report does not mention alcohol, even though … well, we’re struggling to think of another reason why she’d try to stop him from getting into his car.
(We’re just guessing, but maybe it will come out in court)
Sadly, tons of violence, domestic and otherwise, takes place without the involvement of alcohol, so this could be something else.
Either way, it’s a terrible thing to happen and pretty much the worst way for a friendship to end.
Uriah seems reluctant to comment on the incident or his upcoming court date, but a rep for him says that:he would “never harm another person.”
Which basically means that his rep was just doing their job and may not know much more than the rest of us.
