One of the men prominently featured in the documentary series Quiet on Set is Dan Schneider, a former Nickelodeon heavyweight with a highly publicized history of misconduct. Following the premiere of the first two episodes, Schneider has released a video responding to some of those allegations.
Schneider, whose credits include The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly, has long been accused of toxic behavior on set. Allegations of Schneider’s misconduct were first made public in 2018 and have continued in recent years, with Jennette McCurdy and Alexa Nikolas among those who’ve accused the TV creator of sexualizing young actors. Extensive time is devoted to Schneider in Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, a new Investigation Discovery documentary series that premiered on March 17. In addition to sexualizing child stars, Schneider is accused of creating a hostile work environment and harassing crew members, some of whom say Schneider asked them for massages at work.
Schneider was interviewed by former iCarly star Bobbie K. Bowman, a.k.a. BooG!e, about the allegations in Quiet on Set. In the 20-minute video, posted to YouTube and social media, Schneider says it was “very difficult” for him to watch the first two episodes of the series. “I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” Schneider says. He goes on to specifically addresses concerns that his shows sexualized child actors, as well as the inappropriate requests for massages at work.
Regarding the former, Schneider says Nickelodeon should edit the relevant episodes to remove any offensive jokes, and claims that he would’ve happily done so at the time had he been asked. “All these jokes that you’re speaking of (…) every one of those jokes was written for a kid audience, because kids thought they were funny,” Schneider says. “Now we have some adults looking back at them 20 years later through their lens, and they’re looking at them and they’re saying ‘You know, I don’t think that’s appropriate for a kids show.’ I have no problem with that. If that’s how anyone feels, let’s cut those jokes out of the show, just like I would have done 20 years ago.”
This is markedly different from the response Variety received from Schneider’s representative on March 19:
“Everything that happened on the shows Dan ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults, and approved by the network. If there was an actual problem with the scenes that some people, now years later are ‘sexualizing,’ they would be taken down, but they are not, they are aired constantly all over the world today still, enjoyed by both kids and parents.”
With regards to the harassment claims, Schneider says, “It was wrong that I ever put anybody in that position. It was the wrong thing to do. I’d never do it today. I’m embarrassed that I did it then. I apologize to anybody that I ever put in that situation. Additionally, I apologize to the people who were walking around video village, or wherever they happened, because there were lots of people there who witnessed it who also may have felt uncomfortable, so I owe them an apology as well.”
(featured image: Screenshot / YouTube)
