Dan Schneider SUES 'Quiet on Set' for Portraying Him as Alleged Child Sexual Abuser E! News
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00:00Dan Schneider is suing the producers of the Quiet on Set docuseries for portraying him
00:05as an alleged child sexual abuser.
00:08The Drake and Josh creator is taking legal action against the producers of the docuseries
00:13Quiet on Set, the dark side of kids TV, which accused him of inappropriate behavior on the
00:18sets of his Nickelodeon shows in the 1990s and 2000s.
00:23In the legal documents obtained by E! News May 1st, Schneider says the series falsely
00:28implies he was a child sex abuser by including him in the documentary alongside Brian Peck,
00:34who was sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges stemming from a child sex abuse case
00:39involving Drake Bell.
00:41Schneider, 58, states he was not complicit in the abuse and, quote, condemned the abuse
00:46once it was discovered and, critically, was not a child sexual abuser himself.
00:51In the filing, Schneider's lawyers call the documentary a, quote, hit job against the
00:55producer who created series including The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, iCarly and Victorious
01:02before exiting the network in 2018.
01:05According to the lawsuit, Quiet on Set defamed him while pursuing, quote, clickbait, ratings
01:10and views, or simply put, money.
01:13Following the filing, Schneider says in a statement to E! News that he had no choice
01:17but to take legal action against the production companies for insinuating he was involved
01:21in or facilitated horrific crimes.
01:24He adds,
01:25There is no doubt that I was sometimes a bad leader.
01:28I am sincerely apologetic and regretful for that behavior, and I will continue to take
01:33accountability for it.
01:34I have no objection to anyone highlighting my failures as a boss, but it is wrong to
01:39mislead millions of people to the false conclusion that I was in any way involved in heinous
01:44acts like those committed by child predators.
01:48Schneider continues,
01:49I owe it to myself, my family and the many wonderful people involved in making these
01:53shows to set the record straight.
01:56Dan previously addressed Quiet on Set, issuing an apology after some former child actors
02:01detailed times they felt uncomfortable on set or were made to wear inappropriate costumes.
02:06He said in a YouTube video March 19th,
02:09Watching over the past two nights was very difficult, me facing my past behaviors, some
02:15of which are embarrassing and that I regret, and I definitely owe some people a pretty
02:21strong apology.
02:23Every one of those jokes was written for a kid audience because kids thought they were
02:28funny and only funny, okay?
02:32Now we have some adults looking back at them 20 years later through their lens and they're
02:38looking at them and they're saying, oh yeah, I don't think that's appropriate for a kid
02:41show.
02:42And I have no problem with that.
02:44If that's how anyone feels, let's cut those jokes out of the show.
02:49We had executives in LA.
02:52We had executives in New York.
02:54So two coasts.
02:55Two coasts of approval.
02:56Yes.
02:57And by the way, approval at every stage, really.
02:59I'm talking about wardrobe.
03:00I'm talking about makeup, sound, sets, dialogue, jokes, everything.
03:06And we're also shooting it in front of all sorts of adults and caregivers and the set
03:11teacher and the families.
03:14Everybody's watching it.
03:15And if anybody had said anything, hey, we don't like that.
03:18That's not appropriate.
03:20It would have been cut out.
03:21E! News has reached out to Investigation Discovery for comment on the lawsuit on behalf of Nickelodeon,
03:26Warner Bros.
03:27Discovery, Maxine Productions, and Sony Pictures Television, but hasn't heard back.