Television producer Dan Schneider, who was once a prominent content developer at Nickelodeon, filed a defamation complaint against the makers of the documentary series “Quiet on Set” on Wednesday. The series featured stories of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behaviour on sets.
The five-episode series “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” featured interviews with former workers who criticized Schneider as a boss and took issue with the sexualized humour in his shows. This prompted Schneider to apologize in a video that he released in March for some of his actions while working, like asking workers for massages on set.
However, the program also highlighted Nickelodeon staff members found guilty of child sex offences. One such employee is Brian Peck, a dialogue coach for the network, who was incarcerated for molesting “Drake & Josh” star Jared Drake Bell.
According to Schneider’s lawsuit, the documentary wrongly equated him with people who had been found guilty of child abuse. Additionally, several parts of the series, according to Schneider’s attorneys, “falsely and repeatedly state or imply that Schneider is a child sexual abuser.”
“Schneider will be the first to admit that some of what they said is true,” the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, said of the filmmakers. “At times, he was blind to the pain that some of his behaviour caused certain colleagues, subordinates and cast members. He will regret and atone for this behaviour for the rest of his life. But one thing he is not — and the one thing that will forever mar his reputation and career both past and present — is a child sexual abuser.”
Schneider asserted that “everything that happened on the shows I ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults” in a statement he provided that was included in the documentary. Schneider declined to be interviewed for the series.
Listed as defendants in the complaint are Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz, who directed the series; Maxine Productions and Sony Pictures Television, who produced it; and Warner Bros. Discovery, which operates Max, where it was streamed. A request for comment was met with no immediate response from any of the parties.
The lawsuit, which referred to the show as a “hit job,” claimed that viewers were misled to believe that Schneider was a child sex abuser on multiple occasions. One such occurrence occurred in the trailer, which featured Schneider’s picture and video clips followed by an announcement of a “true crime event.”
“The harm to Schneider’s reputation, career, and business, to say nothing of his overwhelming emotional distress, cannot be understated,” said the lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants’ attorney replied that there were no “statements” that defamed Schneider, in response to Schneider’s legal representatives’ letter requesting that the series “not include any statements that allege or imply that Schneider engaged in any criminal or sexual misconduct.”
Schneider wrote, produced, and penned several successful Nickelodeon shows beginning in the 1990s, including “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” “Drake & Josh,” and “Zoey 101.”
However, Schneider and Nickelodeon abruptly announced their split in a joint statement in the spring of 2018. In an instant, he vanished from the public eye.
Before that declaration, ViacomCBS, Nickelodeon’s parent company, looked into Schneider and discovered that many of the individuals he worked with thought he was verbally abusive, according to a 2021 New York Times story. During the company’s inquiry, Schneider’s sexual misconduct was not found to have occurred.
In addition to detailing Schneider’s breakup with Nickelodeon, the new documentary series revealed that an inquiry into his behaviour “did not find any evidence of inappropriate sexual behaviour” or “inappropriate relationships with children.”
The show generated discussions about the suitability of some content on children’s television and was a ratings success. Years after the shows’ initial airing, Schneider said in his apologetic video that he would be happy to remove anything that offended viewers. Critics said the shows featured barely concealed sexual innuendo. However, he also hinted that the criticism originated from adults who were reading humour meant for youngsters “through their lens.”
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