Kenan Thompson breaks silence on Nickelodeon’s ‘Quiet on Set’
Saturday Night Live veteran Kenan Thompson, one of the former stars of the Nickelodeon show Kenan & Kel, has opened up about his time as a child star and given his thoughts on the abuse allegations brought forward in the new documentary series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which aired last week, brings to life some troubling accusations, focusing on several successful television programmes created by Dan Schneider. It details several incidents onset, from the 1990s to the 2010s, accusing him of sexual misconduct and verbal abuse.
The Amanda Show, All That, iCarly, Victorious and Sam & Cat are analysed. Young cast members are claimed to have been made to feel regularly uncomfortable on the sets of the shows featuring in sketches that contain racially and sexually insensitive comedy.
The allegations do not only concentrate on Schneider. At one point, it focuses on Jason Handy, the production assistant on All That and The Amanda Show, who was a “self-proclaimed paedophile” and is now in prison for sending a picture of himself masturbating to an 11-year-old girl. Furthermore, Brian Peck, the dialogue coach on All That and The Amanda Show, was also arrested and convicted of child sexual abuse. An allegation is lodged that he sexually abused Drake Bell of The Amanda Show and later Drake and Josh.
Thompson’s comments on the documentary and the alleged plight of his co-stars came during a chat on the talk show Tamron Hall, which encompassed his new memoir When I Was Your Age and his famous tenure on Saturday Night Live.
Notably, Thompson started out as a child actor on All That before going on to star in Kenan & Kel. A sketch from the former was adapted into a feature film, Good Burger, in 1997. All were created by Nickelodeon, with Schneider producing All That and writing its spin-off movie. Thompson states that he still hasn’t watched the new explosive new documentary series.
“It’s a tough subject. It’s tough for me because I can’t really speak on things that I never witnessed. All these things happened after I left, basically. Dan [Schneider] wasn’t really on Kenan & Kel like that. He got a ‘Created by’ credit, but it was a different showrunner,” he said. “All that negativity kind of started happening outside of our tenure [at Nickelodeon]. I wasn’t really aware of a lot of it, but my heart goes out to anyone that’s been victimised, or their families.”
“It’s a good thing that the doc is out, and it’s putting things on display that need to be, stories that need to be told for accountability’s sake. But it’s definitely tough to watch because I have fond memories of that place,” he continued.
Thompson added: “I have fond memories of my co-stars. To hear that they’ve gone through terrible things like that, it’s really tough.”
Thompson did have some strong words after he was informed by Hall that they had reached out to the network, who told them they were investigating all the allegations thoroughly. He interrupted, asserting: “Well, investigate more. It’s supposed to be a safe space. It’s supposed to be a safe place for kids. So to hear all that is like, ‘How dare you.'”
After the docuseries aired, Schneider responded to the allegations, saying it was “difficult” watching his past behaviours, which he expressed deep regret at and called embarrassing. He told former Nickelodeon actor BooG!E: “I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology”.
This is a developing story.
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