Former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider apologized for his conduct and the on-set ambiance of the preteen- and teen-focused exhibits he produced within the 2000s and 2010s.
Schneider, who parted methods with the community in 2018, spoke out in response to the Investigation Discovery collection “Quiet on Set: The Darkish Aspect of Children TV,” which aired Sunday and Monday.
Throughout a video dialog with actor Bobbie Okay. Bowman, often known as BooG!e, Schneider stated viewing the docuseries was “tough” and “embarrassing.”
“Dealing with my previous behaviors — a few of that are embarrassing and that I remorse — and I positively owe some folks a reasonably sturdy apology,” Schneider stated.
He spoke to Bowman, who performed T-Bo on “iCarly,” in a video uploaded to Schneider’s YouTube channel Tuesday.
Schneider produced a few of Nickelodeon’s most profitable exhibits, together with “All That,” “The Amanda Present,” “Drake and Josh” and “iCarly.”
“Quiet on Set” featured a number of actors and former youngster stars who alleged abuse, inappropriate conduct and a poisonous work surroundings whereas showing on exhibits produced by Schneider.
“It was fallacious that I ever put anyone in that place,” Schneider stated when he was requested about massages that occurred at work. “I apologize to anyone that I ever put in that state of affairs.”
“There have been plenty of folks there who witnessed it who additionally could have felt uncomfortable. So I owe them an apology, as nicely.”
Schneider stated any questionable content material or jokes within the exhibits must be minimize from vaulted and rerun episodes.
“Each a kind of jokes was written for a child viewers as a result of children thought they have been humorous,” Schneider stated. “Now we’ve some adults trying again at them 20 years later via their lens. I’ve no downside with that. Let’s minimize these jokes out of the present.”
He additionally reiterated an announcement he launched earlier that stated a number of community executives accredited the content material and look of his exhibits and that dozens of adults have been on set and by no means raised considerations.
He additionally addressed an investigation that occurred earlier than he left the community and stated it discovered no wrongdoing.
“All that was discovered is that he was a difficult, powerful and demanding particular person to work for and with, nothing else,” a spokesperson for Schneider has stated.
In “Quiet on Set,” Drake Bell, who starred within the present “Drake and Josh,” comes ahead with accusations in opposition to dialogue coach Brian Peck.
Peck — an in depth collaborator of Schneider’s on “All That” and “The Amanda Present,” the latter of which Bell appeared on commonly — was arrested in 2003 and charged with “lewd acts with a toddler,” in keeping with a information launch from the Los Angeles Police Division. The discharge stated Peck had molested an unidentified minor he had labored with over a interval of six months.
After he pleaded no contest, Peck was convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a 14- or 15-year-old youngster and oral copulation with a minor below 16, in keeping with a case abstract from Los Angeles County Superior Court docket. He was sentenced to 16 months in jail.
A consultant for Peck didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Schneider bought emotional concerning the case and stated he didn’t rent Peck.
He stated he has tried to be there for actors, serving to Bell’s mom when Bell was coping with authorized points.
Bell was sentenced to two years of probation for youngster endangerment after he was accused of “grooming” a feminine sufferer when she was 12. He pleaded responsible to felony tried youngster endangerment and a misdemeanor cost for disseminating matter dangerous to juveniles.
Schneider stated tv exhibits that characteristic youngster actors ought to have therapists on set who’ve energy to find out whether or not a juvenile actually desires to be working.
“If a child doesn’t wish to be on a TV present, they will decide out,” he stated.
Nickelodeon didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about Schneider’s apology video. A community spokesperson, responding to the docuseries, beforehand stated the next:
“Although we can’t corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions many years in the past, Nickelodeon as a matter of coverage investigates all formal complaints as a part of our dedication to fostering a secure {and professional} office surroundings freed from harassment or other forms of inappropriate conduct. Our highest priorities are the well-being and greatest pursuits not simply of our staff, casts and crew, however of all kids, and we’ve adopted quite a few safeguards over time to assist guarantee we live as much as our personal excessive requirements and the expectations of our viewers.”
Alexa Nikolas, who performed Nicole Bristow on the Schneider-created “Zoey 101” on Nickelodeon, in a livestream on her YouTube channel Tuesday known as for extra safeguards for younger actors, together with having third-party advocates and ending nondisclosure agreements for kids.
“I don’t really feel unhealthy for you, Dan Schneider, as a result of it’s unhappy that it took you this lengthy to apologize to us,” she stated exterior Nickelodeon’s Burbank, California, workplaces Tuesday.
“Not solely did you bully me, you really put me in a state of affairs the place creeps are going to take a look at me in a sure method as a toddler,” she stated. “You’re embarrassed? That’s a joke.”
Schneider stated within the YouTube video that he was inexperienced when he ran a few of a cable community’s most respected franchises and acknowledged that typically, he was “straight-up impolite.”
“I could possibly be cocky and positively overambitious,” he stated.
“If I may return I might get it completed in several methods,” Schneider stated. “I might be nicer.”