Dan Schneider Speaks Out After Watching ‘Quiet on Set’: “It Hurts Really Bad for Me”

Now that Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, an Investigation Discovery docuseries about alleged abuse and exploitation at kids’ network Nickelodeon, has aired in full, the once-celebrated network mogul Dan Schneider is apologizing on camera for the first time. 

Schneider, who has long faced toxicity allegations and parted ways with Nickelodeon in 2018, previously shared a statement regarding the docuseries with Vanity Fair, but went into more detail in a newly released video. He is interviewed by BooG!e, who played the character of T-Bo on Schneider’s iCarly. The performer said 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 began in 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 biggest bombshells from the series is a revelation from former child star Drake Bell, who said 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 prison after being convicted on sexual abuse charges, and ordered to register as a sex 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 said in the video. At another point, he teared up when claiming that Bell’s mother approached him for help in writing a speech to read 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 called this “the darkest part of my career” and said he still doesn’t know why Peck was allowed to continue working on children’s programming after his prison stint. “He was hired on a Disney Channel show,” said Schneider. “I don’t understand that.” (According to Variety, Peck was terminated after Disney learned of his history.)

Schneider, who also spoke about his close bond with troubled former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes in the video, then addressed what some interpreted to be jokes about adult sexuality embedded in kids programming. “Every one of those jokes was written for a kid audience because kids thought they were funny, and only funny,” Schneider claimed. He did suggest that any offending humor should be cut from future reruns. “Let’s cut those jokes out of the show, just like I would have done 20 years ago or 25 years ago” Schneider said. “I want my shows to be popular. I want everyone to like (the shows), the more people who liked the shows, the happier I am. So if there’s anything in a show that needs to be cut because it’s upsetting somebody, let’s cut it.”

Among those to speak out against Schneider in the series were writers Jenny Kilgen and Christy Stratton, who worked in The Amanda Show writers room, alleging that Schneider mistreated them when he was their boss. “Let me just say, no writer should ever feel uncomfortable in any writers room, ever. Period. The end. No excuses,” he said in the interview. “There are definitely things that I would do differently.… The main thing that I would change is how I treat people and everyone. I definitely at times didn’t give people the best of me. I didn’t show enough patience. I could be cocky and definitely over-ambitious, and sometimes just straight up rude and obnoxious and I’m so sorry that I ever was.”

Schneider, who has been largely absent from Hollywood since cutting ties with Nickelodeon, said early in the interview that the behavior that gets unearthed in the series “hurts really bad for me,” and could be attributed to his newness to the industry. “I was green. I was scared. I was excited,” said Schneider. “It meant the world to me that I was getting these opportunities. And I went in and I got lucky, ’cause they were great. My first couple experiences were fantastic. And the fact that I didn’t pay that forward to every employee that walked through my door, it hurts my heart because I should have and I wish I could go back and fix that.”

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