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Former children’s television producer Dan Schneider is suing the producers of ID‘s Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV docuseries, calling the show a “hit job” that implied he was a sexual abuser of children.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by TVLine, states: “While it is indisputable that two bona fide child sexual abusers worked on Nickelodeon shows, it is likewise indisputable that Schneider had no knowledge of their abuse, was not complicit in the abuse, condemned the abuse once it was discovered and, critically, was not a child sexual abuser himself.”
Quiet on Set directors Emma Schwartz and Mary Robertson are named in the suit, as are Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.; Maxine Productions; and Sony Pictures Television Inc.
The docuseries aired in March and featured cast and crew members who worked with Schneider at Nickelodeon throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. The interview subjects included Drake & Josh star Drake Bell, who detailed the abuse he suffered at the hands of convicted child sex abuser Brian Peck. Peck appeared on several Nickelodeon series and worked as a dialogue coach on All That and The Amanda Show.
In addition to claims of inappropriate workplace behavior that included sexism and racism, the special also featured crew members alleging that they were continuously asked to massage Schneider on set. “Dan deeply regrets asking anyone for neck massages,” his team said in response. “Though they happened in public settings, he knows this was highly inappropriate and would never happen again.”
Schneider was dropped from Nickelodeon in 2018. At the time, it was reported that “multiple complaints of abusive behavior” had been filed against him by members of his staff. Then, in 2021, it was reported that ViacomCBS had conducted an internal investigation of Schneider ahead of his departure from Nickelodeon; evidence of verbal abuse was found in that investigation, though evidence of sexual misconduct was not.
Quiet on Set and its promotional trailer, the lawsuit continues, paints Schneider as a criminal and danger to children “for the sake of clickbait, ratings and views — or, put differently, money.” The suit cites a “manipulative mix of editing, speech, and imagery” that, Schneider claims, leads the viewer to think he is a convicted child abuser like Peck and production assistant Jason Handy.
In March, Schneider denied allegations that his shows appeared to sexualize young child stars like Ariana Grande and Jamie Lynn Spears.
“Everything that happened on the shows Dan ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults and approved by the network,” a representative for Schneider said in a statement at the time. “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.”
The statement continued: “Remember, all stories, dialogue, costumes and makeup were fully approved by network executives on two coasts. A standards and practices group read and ultimately approved every script, and programming executives reviewed and approved all episodes. In addition, every day on every set, there were always parents and caregivers and their friends watching filming and rehearsals. Had there been any scenes or outfits that were inappropriate in any way, they would have been flagged and blocked by this multilayered scrutiny. Unfortunately, some adults project their adult minds onto kids’ shows, drawing false conclusions about them.”
In a new statement obtained by TVLine, Schneider says: “Recently the docuseries Quiet on Set highlighted mistakes I made and poor judgment I exhibited during my time at Nickelodeon, most of which happened decades ago during my early career as a producer, working on shows for Tollin/Robbins Productions. There is no doubt that I was sometimes a bad leader. I am sincerely apologetic and regretful for that behavior, and I will continue to take accountability for it. However, after seeing Quiet on Set and its trailer, and the reactions to them, I sadly have no choice but to take legal action against the people behind it. In their successful attempt to mislead viewers and increase ratings, they went beyond reporting the truth and falsely implied that I was involved in or facilitated horrific crimes for which actual child predators have been prosecuted and convicted.
“I have no objection to anyone highlighting my failures as a boss, but it is wrong to mislead millions of people to the false conclusion that I was in any way involved in heinous acts like those committed by child predators. I owe it to myself, my family, and the many wonderful people involved in making these shows to set the record straight.”
TVLine has reached out to ID, Mary Robertson, Warner Bros. Discovery, Maxine Productions and Sony Pictures Television Inc. for comment.
Okay, but even if he didn’t abuse/sexualize child actors, it doesn’t take away the fact that he abused and degraded writers, got massages on set, and other intolerable acts.
The unfortunate moral of the story is that accusing creeps of doing creepy stuff is counterproductive if you can’t prove it, because then they get to play the victim, conveniently ignoring all the creepy stuff they ACTUALLY did.
But being an a-hole isn’t the criminal sexual abuse of children. He owns up to being an a-hole and a bad boss.
And certain contexts were left out in the name of doing a hit piece. It’s not “sexist” to have the 2 newest writers share a salary, even if they’re both women. Al Franken and Tom Davis shared a salary when they started at SNL in 1975. It’s apparently a long-standard practice, regardless of the writers’ sexes.
LOL Context was not left out. You’re buying into his victim narrative, which is exactly what he wants and exactly why this stuff keeps happening to child stars. It will keep happening as long as people think like this.
Here’s what Schneider was quoted as saying:
– He was a bad boss
– He should never have asked for neck massages
– He did not engage in sexual abuse of children
So yes, he messed up, but he admits to his screwups. Kind of makes your point moot.
What does he think this would actually accomplish? His horrible and/or inappropriate behavior and humor have been well-known for years (leading to Nickelodeon dropping him with a golden parachute) and he’s done nothing to dispute it all until now when a wide-watched docseries brought them even more into the forefront. Whether he did or didn’t do what they “implied” (which they didn’t even do), it won’t make him look any better. His lawsuit is gonna make him look even more stupid & heartless, and screw him over harder than he did his own staff.
He knows that lots of people already believe whatever they believe, and won’t change their minds. What this suit will do is to get every single gossip blog to never mention his name, even in a blind, ever again. They can shelve this doc, forever.
Defamation is hard to prove, though. You have to prove there was malicious intent.
Shorter: Yes, my behavior was disgusting, inappropriate, sexist, treated women and girls horribly, and people were molested under my watch, but I didn’t molest anyone! Also (and this is actually important) all these higher ups at the network were totally okay with – and approved of – everything that was on air. I do think the documentary missed by not pointing out that for all Schneider’s power, other people okay’ed what happened.
Yeah because he subtly threatened them with their jobs if they didn’t fall in line.
He is not going to like the discovery phase!
I was just thinking that…going to be ugly regardless. And I doubt the production will settle.
I came to the comments to say the same. He’s not going to like what people will come up as proof etc.
He’s protected by long Tom friend /actor /collaborator and now head of paramount Bryan Robins
Definitely so true, it made me wonder why CBS Mornings has not actually covered this story and wondered if it’s because they’re corporate siblings to Nickelodeon. And yet CBS News cover all other sexual abuse stories, whether it happens at church, school or sports organizations.
Does he not realise that the rumors were around long before Quiet On Set was even conceived?
And it’s not like he didn’t earn the speculation…..
Seems like the orange turd strategy in suing but case will collapse when depositions are taken if it even goes that far and will not proceed. I would bet the producers did due diligence before making the show.
In other words, being a creep isn’t a crime. He’s still a creep.
I didn’t take away he was SAing children. I took away that he verbally abused actors, writers and crew, played favorites and was basically a gross human. His writing was also very questionable more often than not, especially for child actors.
Does this dude really want people saying things on the record under oath?
It’s all right there on tape. No, he may not have abused those children but he hired people that did. No disputing that, they were convicted. He also created highly specialized scenes. I mean did you see the scene with Ariana Geande? Or pickle man? Come on! Pickle man?? The only point of that recurring character was to have people eat pickles in a sexualized way. How the hell is that comedy on a kids show? There were many other scenes they showed that were not funny and in now way belonged on a kids show. The guy is creep. The producers of the documentary have plenty of tape to play and witness to call that they interviewed.
The deposition should be quite interesting
The amount of former Nick stars about to line up to testify…….
As always, real life Ricky Smit!
The truth isn’t defamation just because it’s inconvenient for Dan Schneider.
Sounds like he’s in panic mode and his PR team is scrambling. He belongs is prison. He’s a pervert. Someone will come forward sooner or later.