Now that Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, an Investigation Discovery docuseries about alleged abuse and exploitation at children’ community Nickelodeon, has aired in full, the once-celebrated community mogul Dan Schneider is apologizing on digital camera for the primary time.
Schneider, who has lengthy confronted toxicity allegations and parted methods with Nickelodeon in 2018, beforehand shared a assertion relating to the docuseries with Vanity Fair, however went into extra element in a newly launched video. He is interviewed by BooG!e, who performed the character of T-Bo on Schneider’s iCarly. The performer mentioned he approached the producer after watching Quiet on Set. “BooG!e wants to make clear though that he is not a journalist and wasn’t trying to be,” a spokesperson for Schneider tells VF. “He was offering to provide a platform for Dan to confront a lot of his previous behaviors.”
“Watching over the past two nights was very difficult,” Schneider started within the sit-down. “Me facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret. I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.” He continued, “When I watched the show, I could see the hurt in some people’s eyes, and it made me feel awful and regretful and sorry. I wish I could go back, especially to those earlier years of my career, and bring the growth and the experience that I have now, and just do a better job. And never, ever feel like it was okay to be an asshole to anyone, ever.”
One of the largest bombshells from the sequence is a revelation from former little one star Drake Bell, who mentioned that in between roles on Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh, he was sexually abused by his vocal coach, Brian Peck, whom he met on set. In October 2004, Peck was sentenced to 16 months in jail after being convicted on sexual abuse expenses, and ordered to register as a intercourse offender.
“When Drake and I talked and he told me about what had happened, I was more devastated by that than anything that ever happened to me in my career thus far. And I told him, ‘I’m here for you,’” Schneider mentioned within the video. At one other level, he teared up when claiming that Bell’s mom approached him for assist in writing a speech to learn at Peck’s trial. “She came to me at the time, and she said, ‘Dan, I’m not good with words like you are. And would you help me with my speech for the judge? I said, ‘Of course.’ I did, and he [Peck] ended up going to prison and serving his time.”
The producer referred to as this “the darkest part of my career” and mentioned he nonetheless doesn’t know why Peck was allowed to proceed engaged on kids’s programming after his jail stint. “He was hired on a Disney Channel show,” mentioned Schneider. “I don’t understand that.” (According to Variety, Peck was terminated after Disney realized of his historical past.)