Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider breaks his silence after toxic workplace claims in bombshell new Quiet on the Set doc
Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider breaks his silence after toxic workplace claims in bombshell new Quiet on the Set doc
NICKELODEON producer Dan Schneider has broken his silence after he was accused in a bombshell new documentary of creating an emotionally abusive working environment.
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV gave an inside look at the allegedly turbulent conditions that child stars like Amanda Bynes and Drake Bell endured at the turn of the century.
The mind behind a golden age of children's television for Nickelodeon, Schneider's relationship with the network ended in 2018 after allegations of misconduct came to light.
Former castmates and crew members have accused the prolific producer of being verbally abusive toward his coworkers and creating a toxic working environment with irrational behavior.
He's also been blasted for allegedly sexualizing children through his shows as clips have emerged of teen girls acting suggestively on the programs for laughs.
At one point, Schneider joined a bikini-clad Bynes, who was 16 at the time, in a hot tub while on the set for The Amanda Show, a clip in the docuseries revealed.
The producer was hit with more scrutiny after an acting coach named Brian Peck went to trial for sexually abusing a child in 2003.
Former Drake and Josh star Bell, who was a standout actor for Nickelodeon, revealed last week in the documentary that he was the John Doe who testified against Peck in the trial.
Bell accused Peck, who has no relation to Bell's former co-star Josh Peck, of abusing him after he fell asleep on a couch in Peck's apartment
During the trial, Peck pleaded no contest to charges of committing a lewd act against a child and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
He is now a registered sex offender.
Nickelodeon severed ties with Schneider after an internal investigation found that he had been verbally abusive to his colleagues, the New York Times reported.
However, network execs said there were no signs of sexual abuse or the sexualization of minors.
NEW STATEMENT
Schneider has denied ever facilitating inappropriate behavior on set and slammed the docuseries in a new statement.
Everything that happened on the shows Dan ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults, and approved by the network,a spokesperson for Schneider told The Hollywood Reporter.
Had there been any scenes or outfits that were inappropriate in any way, they would have been flagged and blocked by this multilayered scrutiny.
Schneider's spokesperson stressed that parents were always involved in the decision-making process and that all filming sets were open to adults and friends involved with the talent.
Former coworkers also came to Schneider's aid after cast members voiced their frustrations with the working conditions.
"What people seem to be forgetting is the fact that the network has a talent management department that is keeping tabs on everything that is happening and going to every event these kids go to," former Nickelodeon president of content Russell Hicks said.
"Dan cared about the kids on his shows even when sometimes their own families unfortunately did not."
DISTURBING MOMENTS
However, the journalists who combined forces to work on the four-part series, which premiered on Investigation Discovery on Sunday, still have questions about disturbing moments in Schneider's shows.
Director Mary Robertson referenced one clip that went viral for capturing a then-underaged Ariana Grade, who starred in several shows, pouring water all over herself in a suggestive manner.
"We also saw in those clips, girls appearing on Dan's shows would receive a squirt of a vicious liquid on their face," Robertson told Variety.
"There were a lot of questions that were circulating online certainly around the conditions under which these videos were made."
Robertson and her co-director Emma Schwartz said they hope the series will lead to more robust protections for child actors.
"We have so many questions," Robertson said.
"We are here to listen, and we hope that others who have similar, adjacent, related meaningful experiences in this realm come forward to us."
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