Longtime former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider has filed a lawsuit against the producers of the Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV for implying that he sexually abused child actors during his tenure on the popular kids network, TMZ reports.
Schneider, 58, who produced the popular Nickelodeon shows All That, The Amanda Show, Drake and Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly, claimed the docuseries, which focused on his tenure at the network, was a "hit job" and attempted to lump him in with two convicted child sex offenders who worked on multiple Nickelodeon shows at the time. In March, Schneider, who left the network in 2018, issued an apology amid backlash stemming from the docuseries in a YouTube video alongside actor Bobbie K. Bowman, also known as BooG!e, who played T-Bo on the show 'iCarly,' which he produced.
“Facing my past behaviors — some of which are embarrassing and that I regret — and I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” Schneider said at the time.
Schneider also produced the popular Nickelodeon shows 'All That,' 'The Amanda Show' and 'Drake and Josh,' among others, all of which featured preteen and teenage cast members. 'Quiet on Set' featured several actors who alleged abuse, inappropriate behavior and a toxic work environment while working on shows ran by the disgraced former Nickelodeon producer.
“It was wrong that I ever put anybody in that position,” Schneider said when he was asked about massages that happened at work. “I apologize to anybody that I ever put in that situation.”
“There were lots of people there who witnessed it who also may have felt uncomfortable. So I owe them an apology, as well.”
Actor Drake Bell, who played one of the titular stars on the show 'Drake and Josh,' accused dialogue coach Brian Peck of sexual abuse in the Quiet on Set docuseries. Alexa Nikolas, who played Nicole Bristow on the Schneider-produced Zoey 101, shared a livestream on her YouTube channel on March 19 calling for more safeguards for young actors and issued a response to Schneider's apology.
“I don’t feel bad for you, Dan Schneider, because it’s sad that it took you this long to apologize to us,” Bristow said while standing outside Nickelodeon's offices in Burbank, California, with protesters. “Not only did you bully me, you actually put me in a situation where creeps are going to look at me in a certain way as a child,” she said. "You’re embarrassed? That’s a joke.”
The new docuseries follows years of accusations against Schneider, which included iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy alleging in her 2022 memoir that she was offered hush money over unsettling experiences, as well as numerous videos shared online dissecting Nickelodeon's kid-centric content produced by Schneider.