Ex-Nickelodeon exec Dan Schneider speaks on ‘sexualizing’ child stars

Former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider breaks silence on sexualizing child stars Amanda Bynes, Ariana Grande | Images: Screengrab from DanWarp/Youtube and X (formerly Twitter)

Former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider admitted that he “regretted” his inappropriate behavior towards the crew members and child stars he handled at the time, which included Amanda Bynes and Ariana Grande.

After the recent release of the documentary “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” which uncovers the sexual exploitation faced by child actors from Nickelodeon hit shows, Schneider sat down with BooG! on DanWarp to reflect on his past actions.

“Watching over the past two nights was very difficult. Me facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret and I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” he began.

In the 19-minute interview, Schneider addressed the concerns that were raised in the documentary, beginning with actors and crew members saying that he asked for “massages” during work days, which he now acknowledges as “wrong.”

“It was wrong that I ever put anybody in that position. It was the wrong thing to do. I’d never do it today. I’m embarrassed that I did it then. I apologize to anybody that I ever put in that situation,” he said.

Schneider also commented on the allegations that his Nickelodeon shows contained sexual innuendos and lewd acts, reasoning that at the time the network executives and adults on the set greenlighted the dialogues. 

“If anybody had said anything [like], Hey, we don’t like that. That’s not appropriate, it would have been cut out,” he remarked, adding that the “last thing we want to do is upset the audience.”  

Schneider also recalled his relationship with Bynes and affirmed that he was just “supporting the actress, who at the time wanted to be emancipated from her parents.” He looked back on the night Bynes ran away from home and called him up, sharing that he “asked someone to pick up the actress out of her concert for her safety.”

At the end of the interview, Schneider said that some of the things that he would do differently if time could be rewinded were to hire a therapist for the child actors and change his bad behavior.

“I think it’s important when you’re hiring young actors, minors to work in television, I would suggest that we have a licensed therapist there to oversee that process for the specific reason of making sure that those kids really wanted to do this job,” he explained. 

“Additionally the main thing that I would change is how I treat people. I definitely at times didn’t give people the best of me. I didn’t show enough patience. I could be cocky and definitely overambitious and sometimes just straight up rude and obnoxious,” added Schneider.

When the documentary premiered last Sunday, clips from the Nickelodeon show “The Amanda Show” went viral online, which show Bynes in a jacuzzi with Schneider, as well as some inappropriate dialogues that Grande delivered in the show “Victorious.”

🔥🚨DEVELOPING: Here is footage of Nickelodeon’s Dan Schneider in a jacuzzi with an underaged Amanda Byrnes along with other disturbing footage.

Amanda has been recently going viral due to fans being concerned with her health. Nickelodeon’s sexual abuse will be getting exposed… pic.twitter.com/i5c3tuxAwY

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) March 17, 2024

Ariana Grande being s*xualized on the Nickelodeon show Victorious for 2 minutes straight

Victorious was an American sitcom created by none other Dan Schneider himself #Nickelodeon pic.twitter.com/iegRMYnysC

— Dr. FeelingsxFree (@chudunno_me) March 13, 2024

Aside from sexual misconduct, the documentary also details the racism, gender discrimination, and verbal abuse, among others, that happened in the writers’ room and on the set of the shows that Schneider created.