Keke Palmer’s mom thought Dan Schneider’s Nickelodeon sets felt ‘weird’ and ‘cultish’
“The parents were very secretive, and I honestly thought they all took themselves way too seriously,” Sharon Palmer said.
Keke Palmer’s mom has some not-so-fond memories of Dan Schneider’s tenure at Nickelodeon.
In the wake of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, the Nope star talked to her mother Sharon Palmer about how she perceived the atmosphere of sets run by the mega-producer, who created and produced shows like The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, and iCarly. “I actually do remember you having a lot to say about the Dan Schneider sets,” Keke Palmer, who played the titular character on Nick’s True Jackson, VP for three seasons, said to her mom on her podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer. “I remember you feeling a way about Nickelodeon and how they kind of — no shade, no tea, but I do wanna hear what you have to say.”
Stephanie Augello/Variety via Getty; Eric Vitale/Getty
Keke Palmer and Dan SchneiderSharon Palmer responded candidly. “My honest opinion is I thought the whole atmosphere of the Dan Schneider set was very weird, it was very cultish,” she said. “The parents were very secretive, and I honestly thought they all took themselves way too seriously. The whole conversation was ‘Oh my God, what’s happening next? Did you hear they’re gonna cancel this show? What’s coming next?’ It was always so frantic about what was being canceled.”
Related: Pedophiles on set, sexism in the writers' room: Everything said about Nickelodeon on Quiet on Set
The actress’ mom went on to explain how she never invested as much in the Nickelodeon culture as other parents of child actors. “I always looked at you at Nickelodeon as just a stopping station,” Sharon Palmer said. “‘Cause you didn’t get your start on Nickelodeon or Disney. You were blessed and fortunate enough to work in adult situations and kid situations. So my mentality about the entertainment business wasn’t that Disney Channel or Nickelodeon was the end-all-be-all, but a lot of the parents did.”
Quiet on Set investigated Schneider’s time at Nickelodeon, with numerous former cast and crew members alleging abuse and hostile work environments on Schneider-run shows. Palmer said that she appreciated one particular element of the Investigation Discovery documentary series. “Quiet on Set also did a good job at showcasing the stress outside of these assaulting situations, but also just the mentality of being a child that works, that’s making money, that’s supporting their family,” she said. “That’s also a stressful kind of thing that you don’t expect to experience as a child.”
Elsewhere in the podcast episode, Keke Palmer interviewed Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Christopher Hearne, who both performed on the Schneider-produced All That as children and participated in Quiet on Set. Palmer asked her guests whether they’d still audition for All That with the knowledge of how children were allegedly treated on the set of the series. “I would’ve still auditioned for all that,” Hearne said. “I think knowing what I know now, I think I would’ve been able to advocate for myself a little bit easier back then, so bring that on.” Samuels agreed, “Absolutely.”
Palmer also asked Samuels and Hearne their thoughts on other former Nick stars who haven’t publicly commented on their experiences or the documentary. “Everybody grieves or has their moment of processing, and it’s okay,” Samuels said. “You said what you had to say, you did as far as you could, and for the rest of us that are still speaking up, we are gonna carry that on for you.”
Hearne expressed similar sentiments. “I think a lot of people, they do the hard thing, and then that’s all they could do,” he said. “To talk more about it sometimes, is like, ‘It was already hard enough to do the hard thing, so let me take that step back.’ We are happy to be the people who are keeping it going, keeping the conversation running.”
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Other former Nickelodeon stars have also commented on child stardom in the wake of the docuseries. On the subject of resurfaced footage of herself acting on Victorious and Sam & Cat that many have deemed inappropriately suggestive, Ariana Grande said, “We were told — and convinced as well — that it was the cool differentiation. It all just happened so quickly and now looking back on some of the clips I’m like, ‘That's… Damn, really?’” She added, “And then the things that weren’t approved for the network were snuck onto like our website. And that is another discovery. But I’m going into it… I guess I’m upset.”
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Dan SchneiderMeanwhile, Kenan Thompson said that he “never witnessed” any of the alleged abuse while working on The Amanda Show or Kenan and Kel, and called for responsible parties to “Investigate more” into misconduct on film and TV sets. It’s supposed to be a safe place for kids. And to hear all about that is just like, ‘How dare you?’”
Drake and Josh star Josh Peck stated that “Children should be protected,” and that “Reliving this publicly is incredibly difficult, but I hope it can bring healing for the victims and their families as well as necessary change to our industry.”
After the release of Quiet on Set, Schneider released a 19-minute response video in which he conceded that “I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.” In May, Schneider sued the producers of the documentary for defamation, calling the project a “hit job” and alleging that it framed him as a child sexual predator, which is not an allegation that any former Nick stars have brought against the former Nickelodeon mogul.
Watch the full podcast episode above.
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