Dan Schneider Shuts Down Allegations Made Against His Level Of 'Power' On Nickelodeon
By Kelly Coffey-Behrens on March 19, 2024 at 8:15 PM EDT
While Dan Schneideris apologizing for some of the allegations made against him during his Nickelodeon days, he is shutting down others.
Several stars, crew members, and writers were interviewed for the newly released docuseries, ‘Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV', with many accusing former producer Dan Schneider of creating a toxic work environment, verbal abuse, s-xism, racism, among other things.
Dan Schneider Says His Writing Had To Be Approved
When speaking to BooG!E, who played T-Bo on the hit series, ‘iCarly’, Schneider owned up to some of the accusations made against him, however, he is claiming some of the other allegations made in the docuseries are false.
When asked to elaborate on the claims made in the docuseries that say Schneider had the power "to just write a joke and no matter what it's going on television," the former producer and writer says they are "false."
"The notion that I had the power to just produce whatever I want and have it aired is completely false," he said in the interview. "There were many many levels of scrutiny."
Adding, "We had executives in L.A., we had executives in N.Y., two coasts of approval, and approval at every stage. I'm talking about wardrobe, I'm talking about makeup, sounds, sets, dialogue, jokes, everything."
Dan Schneider Says He Had Bosses, Who Had Bosses, Who Had Bosses
When asked to clarify the "approval" Schneider was referring to, the former Nickelodeon producer said, "these are my bosses. [I had] my bosses and then their bosses and then their bosses and they're approving all of this."
"We are shooting it in front of all sorts of adults and caregivers and the set teacher and the families and everybody watching it and if anybody had said anything, 'Hey we don't like this.' 'That's not appropriate', it would have been cut out."
However, BooG!E pushed back, "The series painted you in this way that you were just the guy that was doing what he wanted and people were afraid to confront you about things. Say that was the case, what would have been the alternate way?"
To which Schneider claimed, "If nobody on the set, if all of the dozens and dozens of adults that were on this set, if they didn't say anything [...], if my bosses insisted 'you got to make a change here', 'you have to cut that', I had to do it. I had no choice."
Dan Schneider Apologizes For Alleged Behavior
While he shut down some of the allegations, he did own up to some, even going as far as apologizing for some of his past behaviors.
“Watching over the past two nights was very difficult,” he said in the interview with BooG!E, “Me facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret, I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”
Dan Schneider previously issued a statement to the documentary crew, claiming, “Everything that happened on the shows I ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults. All stories, dialogue, costumes and makeup were fully approved by network executives on two coasts."
Adding, "A standard and practices group read and ultimately approved every script, and programming executives reviewed and approved all episodes. In addition, every day on every set, there were always parents and caregivers and their friends watching us rehearse and film.”
Dan Schneider Allegedly Creates Toxic Work Environment
One of the allegations made against Schneider included a toxic work environment, which was allegedly filled with crude jokes, s-xism, and racism. For example, Kyle Sullivan and Bryan Hearne, who both appeared on the show 'All That', took part in the docuseries where they exposed Dan Schneider and made allegations regarding his behavior.
"Dan [Schneider] had a nicer relationship with some of the other white kids," Hearne, who is Black, claimed in the docuseries, adding that he "didn't feel close to Dan at all."
"My time on Nickelodeon played a big part in how I dealt, and how I still deal with racial issues," Hearne alleged in the bombshell docuseries.
Dan Schneider 'Could See The Hurt' In Former Nickelodeon Crew
When Schneider watched the series, he claims he “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 a–hole to anyone, ever,” he added.
‘Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV' is currently streaming on MAX.