In March 2024, Quiet on Set premiered and exposed the very many ways Dan “the foot man” Schneider mistreated and exploited the child stars under his wing that he was supposed to protect. It can be comforting to assume that Dan was just a “bad apple,” and that he is not representative of Hollywood or Nickelodeon as a whole. It can be comforting to assume that after Dan got fired from Nickelodeon, that took care of all of the problems and no one had a bad experience on a Nickelodeon show ever again. The truth, however, is that Dirty Dan is not simply a “bad apple,” but rather, representative of larger systematic issues with Nickelodeon as a whole. I mean, there’s a reason he was able to act the way he did as long as he did! So today, we will be talking about those who had troubles on shows not run by Dan to show how while he is definitely a big part of the problem, the problem is also bigger than him and systematic in its scope.
Allie DiMeco
Allie DiMeco starred as Nat’s love interest, Rosalina in The Naked Brothers Band, which was created by Polly Draper. After Quiet on Set came out, Allie DiMeco took to TikTok to talk about a traumatic experience of her own on the set of The Naked Brothers Band. Allie said she was “stressed” while watching Quiet on Set, and that she “went through trauma.” She talks of an episode in which she “cheated” on Nat with an older French guy, and had to kiss said older guy, even though he was 30, and she was 14-15 at the time, and she was not comfortable with doing it. This was such a traumatic experience for Allie that she couldn’t even watch the clip, saying, “It gives me f*cking the ick and it honestly gives me PTSD.” Allie said that even though she told them many times she didn’t want to do it, and her mom was also very against it, “they pretty much made [her] feel like [she] was going to lose [her] job, that [she] might be fired if [she] didn’t do it.” She said about Quiet on Set, “I’m watching this Quiet on Set documentary and it’s talking about how integral and vital it is to create — especially when it’s a kids cast — to create an environment where kids feel comfortable to say ‘No’ or ‘I don’t feel comfortable with this.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, maybe they do express that though, it’s also more important to create an environment that listens to the kids and actually does not make them do things when they don’t want to do them.” I strongly agree with this. As we have seen in Quiet on Set, it is important to create an environment in which the cast feels comfortable speaking up when they don’t feel comfortable doing something, but it is also equally important to make sure that it is an environment that actually respects the wishes of the kids! As we can see, Allie voiced her discomfort multiple times, and so did her mom, but nobody listened or cared. In fact, they even coerced her into doing it!
Unfortunately, this isn’t the worst of it. In another TikTok, Allie talks of when the show decided to have an episode centered around Nat and Rosalina’s first kiss. Allie said she “freaked out” because she hadn’t experienced it in real life yet, and she didn’t want it to be on TV. She said “I just wanted that moment to be for me,” which is understandable. She and her mom told production that Allie wasn’t doing the kiss, and production, in turn, threatened to fire her and told her that she would never work again. Allie said that a female producer was very upset and asked “You haven’t had your first kiss yet?” then proceeded to grab and kiss Allie and said, “There, your first kiss is over. You had your first kiss, now go film,” which has got to be some sort of sexual harassment or assault.
Unfortunately, Allie’s experiences seem representative of how child actors are treated as a whole. No one cares how they feel about what they’re doing, it doesn’t matter if they consent, they’re just supposed to show up and hit all their marks, regardless of how they feel. No one cares if they’re feeling bad, they’re just supposed to suck it up and get on with it! Consent is very important, and children deserve to have their feelings respected and prioritized, the same as adults.
Amber Frank
Amber Frank starred as Taylor Hathaway in the series The Haunted Hathaways. After Amber watched Quiet on Set, Amber took to TikTok to talk about “One of the horrifying experiences in [her] experience with Nickelodeon.” When The Haunted Hathaways started filming, computers were sent over to production, and when they were turned on, there was child porn on them. “And nobody was held accountable,” Amber said. “There was no investigation, never even found out where it came from or who was responsible for it.” What’s more, The Haunted Hathaways ran from 2013-2015, which is relatively recent. It demonstrates that all the corruption, perversion, and not holding predators accountable is not simply a thing of the past at Nickelodeon. It happened as recently as 10 years ago, and could still be happening today. It also shows how Nickelodeon still prioritizes protecting predators over keeping the casts of their shows safe.
Predators in Animation
If you thought the animated shows at Nickelodeon were safe, you would be sadly mistaken. A pretty infamous example of this is John Kricfalusi (or John K), who created one of the three OG Nicktoons, Ren And Stimpy, which had a major cultural impact. Despite that, it was an open secret in the animation industry that John K preferred girls of the younger kind if you know what I mean. In 2018, John was accused by two women, Robin Byrd and Katie Rice of grooming and preying upon them both when they were teenagers. He took advantage of their dreams of having a career in animation and the fact that they were fans of Ren and Stimpy. While he didn’t do anything physical with Katie, he did have a physical relationship with Robin, who lived with John K as his girlfriend for a time when she was 16. He also took explicit polaroids of her without her consent or knowledge, which he showed to other people. As for Katie, she was sexually harassed while working for John, and she discovered child porn on his computer. I commend both of these women for having the courage to talk about their abuse, as this open secret would have likely remained an open secret if they hadn’t brought it to light.
In summary, it is quite clear from these examples that the problem is bigger than Dan Schneider, there are also larger systemic failings with Nickelodeon that allow Dan’s kind of behavior to flourish, and treat child stars as money-making robots rather than people with feelings and needs. The failings with both Dirty Dan and Nickelodeon also encapsulate how child stars are treated as a whole, no one really cares about whether they really want to be doing what they’re doing or if they feel comfortable, they’re just supposed to do it. While it is comforting, it is dangerous to think of Dan as just a “bad apple” because even when he is gone, the system that put him in charge will still be there, and a new Dan will take his place, and no one will be better off. It is only after we put in the work to fix that system will things finally change for the better.