LOS ANGELES – Former Nickelodeon producer and writer Dan Schneider sued the producers of “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” on Wednesday, alleging that producers of the documentary series wrongly insinuated that he sexually abused the child actors he was with. has worked.
Schneider filed a defamation lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery and other companies behind the series in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Schneider, a former teen actor, was a central figure in Nickelodeon’s dominance of kids’ culture in the 1990s and 2000s, with his work on the sketch shows “All That,” “The Amanda Show” and “Kenan.” & Kel” and as executive producer of series such as “Zoey 101”, “iCarly” and “Victorious”.
He is also the key figure in “Quiet on Set,” which aired on the True Crime ID cable channel in March, has since been streaming on Max and has made a big splash with former Nickelodeon stars and viewers. It uses interviews with the cast and crew to describe the sexualization of young teens on the shows and a toxic and abusive work environment that many said Schneider was responsible for. Also includes depictions of sexual abuse by child actors, including “The Amanda Show” and “Drake & Josh star Drake Bell by crew members who were later convicted of it.
But Schneider, who parted ways with Nickelodeon in 2018, said in the lawsuit that the “Quiet on Set” trailer and episodes of the show deliberately mix and juxtapose images and mentions of him with the criminal sexual abusers to suggest he was involved.
“Schneider’s performance in ‘Quiet on Set’ is a success,” the lawsuit says. “While it is indisputable that two bona fide child sexual abusers worked on Nickelodeon shows, it is equally indisputable that Schneider had no knowledge of their abuse, was not complicit in the abuse, condemned the abuse as soon as it was discovered, and, crucially, was not himself a child sexual abuser.”
The lawsuit names Warner Bros. as defendants. Discovery – parent company of ID and Max – and the show’s producers, Sony Pictures Television and Maxine Productions.
Emails seeking comment from representatives of the three companies were not immediately returned.
The four-part series suggests that Schneider’s shows had a tendency to place young women in comical situations with sexual implications and portray him as an angry, emotionally abusive boss.
It includes direct allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination by women who worked as writers under him on “All That.” They said he showed pornography on his computer in their presence in the writers’ room and asked for massages, joking that this would lead to sketches of the women who make up the show, which Schneider denied.
It also includes an interview with Bell in which he describes “extensive” and “brutal” sexual abuse by a speech coach when he was 15, and with the mother of another girl who was sexually abused by a crew member.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Bell has done.
After the show’s initial release, Schneider apologized in a YouTube video for “past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and which I regret.”
But the lawsuit says the show and especially its trailer unfairly implicate him in child sexual abuse by showing images of him — including some with his arm around young actors — during discussions about an environment that was unsafe for them.
The lawsuit seeks to have damages determined at trial for what it calls the “destruction of Schneider’s reputation and legacy” through “false statements and implications.”
Nickelodeon, which is not involved in the lawsuit, said in a statement about the series that it cannot “corroborate or deny” decades-old allegations, but it investigates all formal complaints and has strict protocols for working minors.
“Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests of not only our employees, cast and crew, but of all children,” a network spokesperson said in a statement, “and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are meeting our own high standards and our audience’s expectations.”
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