“I undoubtedly owe some individuals a reasonably sturdy apology,” he stated.
Lengthy earlier than Dan Schneider was often called the creator of exhibits like Kenan & Kel, iCarly, and Zoey101, he was an actor. Individuals of a sure age will certainly bear in mind him as Dennis in Head of the Class, the snarky physics-loving pupil who had prime back-of-the-room seating subsequent to what now appears just like the world’s first laptop. The sequence was a couple of ragtag group of geniuses and the ex-hippy trainer who taught them that there was life outdoors of books.
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It is simple to think about the one that embodied that character would then go on to solidify Nickelodeon because the place to be for child and teenage programming. Sadly, his legacy has been laced with controversy which led to Schneider and Nickelodeon parting methods in 2018 after a 25-year relationship. The place is Dan Schneider now? This is what we all know.
The place is Dan Schneider now? He was accused of abuse by former colleagues.
In June 2021, Schneider gave his first interview to The New York Occasions since semi-exiting his enterprise partnership with Nickelodeon. In line with the outlet, “[Schneider] declined to touch upon the investigation. However he defended his management fashion, denied he left on unhealthy phrases, and described his departure as a pure confluence of occasions after an ‘exhausting’ interval by which he delivered as many as 50 episodes of exhibits annually.”
Nonetheless, individuals who labored with him advised a special story.
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Dan Schneider accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award throughout Nickelodeon’s twenty seventh Annual Youngsters’ Alternative Awards in March 2014
The New York Occasions additionally obtained in contact with 4 individuals who have been interviewed by ViacomCBS, however who have been legally allowed to debate it. They denied seeing something sexually inappropriate on set however did verify he was verbally abusive. Schneider referred to this habits as being “tough,” and attributed it to his “excessive requirements.”
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Arthur Gradstein wrote on 4 of Schneider’s exhibits, and knew him fairly effectively. About his time working with Schneider, Gradstein stated his expertise was a “blast” however his boss was additionally “unreasonably demanding, controlling, belittling, and vindictive, with a willful disregard for boundaries or office appropriateness.” (Humorous how this form of habits is usually spun as dedicated reasonably than what it’s: damaging.)
Amid these allegations of abusive habits, iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jeannette McCurdy launched a memoir in 2022 that included particulars about her time engaged on Schneider’s exhibits. Although she did not identify Schneider particularly, she referred to a head determine as “The Creator” who was “mean-spirited, controlling, and terrifying” and, amongst different issues, had allegedly pressured her to drink. She additionally stated Nickelodeon provided her “hush cash” however that she did not take it.
Schneider was not a part of the iCarly revival, however he publicly wished the present effectively.
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Dan Schneider in June 2011
Dan Schneider’s alleged abuse can be addressed in an Investigation Discovery docuseries.
March 2024’s four-part docuerseries Quiet on Set: The Darkish Facet of Youngsters TV examines the poisonous work tradition of late ’90s and early 2000s Nickelodeon TV exhibits, a lot of which have been Schneider’s. Former Nickelodeon expertise corresponding to Giovonnie Samuels, Kyle Sullivan, Bryan Hearne, and Katrina Johnson are featured within the docuseries in addition to Jenny Kilgen and Christy Stratton, who wrote for The Amanda Present.
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Forward of the docuseries’ March 17, 2024 premiere, a spokesperson for Schneider launched an announcement to Selection, saying that “Dan cared concerning the youngsters on his exhibits even when typically their very own households sadly didn’t. He understood what they have been going by means of and he was their largest champion. The actual fact is lots of the youngsters on these exhibits are put within the untenable place of turning into the breadwinner for his or her household and the stress that comes together with that. … That’s the reason there are lots of ranges of requirements, executives, attorneys, academics, and oldsters in every single place, on a regular basis, on each set, on daily basis. Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless a tough place to be a child and no one knew that higher than Dan.”
After the primary couple of episodes premiered — by which former associates and workers made claims of inappropriate jokes, sexism, and an abusive setting, amongst different issues — Schneider’s rep insisted (by way of The Hollywood Reporter) that “[e]verything that occurred on the exhibits Dan ran was rigorously scrutinized by dozens of concerned adults, and accredited by the community,” and that executives on each coasts all the time needed to give the OK.”
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Quickly after, Schneider’s spokesperson stated (by way of Deadline) that the producer “anticipated and requested lots” of his workers and “understands why some workers discovered that intimidating or annoying,” noting that Schneider is “actually sorry” for what some individuals skilled with him.
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Schneider then took to YouTube on March 19, 2024, to say he “undoubtedly [owed] some individuals a reasonably sturdy apology.” He stated that whereas watching the docuseries, he “may see the harm in some individuals’s eyes.”
“I did not present sufficient persistence. I might be cocky and undoubtedly overambitious and typically simply straight up impolite and obnoxious. I’m so sorry that I ever was,” he stated.
Concerning inappropriate habits within the writers’ room that included asking feminine writers for massages, Schneider stated, “I apologize to anyone that I ever put in that state of affairs, and even moreover, I apologize to the individuals who have been strolling round video village or wherever they occurred, as a result of there have been plenty of individuals there who witnessed it who additionally might have felt uncomfortable.”
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Schneider additionally addressed the half within the docuseries that centered on former youngster star Drake Bell, who was sexually abused by dialogue and performing coach Brian Peck. Within the YouTube video, Schneider stated he hadn’t been the one to rent Peck, and that he had supported Bell on the time. (Bell talked about this within the docuseries as effectively, noting that “actually the one individual that I bear in mind being there for me was Dan.”) Schneider tearfully recalled serving to Bell’s mother in a speech for the choose.
“That was in all probability the darkest a part of my profession,” Schneider stated.
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Dan Schneider is suing the producers of ‘Quiet on Set: The Darkish Facet of Youngsters TV’
In a lawsuit filed by attorneys on behalf of Schneider, he claims the Quiet on Set docuseries was successful job, per Selection. “Whereas it’s indeniable that two bona fide youngster sexual abusers labored on Nickelodeon exhibits, it’s likewise indeniable that Schneider had no information of their abuse, was not complicit within the abuse, condemned the abuse as soon as it was found and, critically, was not a toddler sexual abuser himself,” says the lawsuit.
The court docket paperwork obtained by the outlet additional state that Schneider’s status was sullied by the accusations made within the sequence. It additionally states the docuseries was created for rankings, clickbait, and cash.