Disgraced Nickelodeon Producer Finally Speaks About Misconduct Allegations
This article is more than 2 years old
Back in 2018, Dan Schneider was one of the more successful television producers around. But then the dude credited with bringing Nickelodeon to the top of the cable ratings abruptly left the company and essentially disappeared from the industry. It was an odd move at the time that brought up a number of different questions about the impetus for the network’s move as well as what Schneider may have done to warrant an ouster. In a New York Times interview this week, Schneider spoke out about the move and the allegations that cropped up over the years regarding his professional conduct.
In the interview, the former Nickelodeon executive spoke about his personal reasons for leaving the company though he did stop short of talking about a number of different allegations levied his way. Schneider mentioned having to take care of things he had “let go by the wayside for decades,” which included both his physical and mental health. Schneider also responded to some reports that he had overseen some sexualization of the child actors on the shows which the former producer said was “ridiculous”.
As part of the New York Times reporting, they interviewed a number of different Nickelodeon employees about Dennis Schneider’s tenure at the company. There seemed to be consensus that he had tendencies that were tantamount to verbal abuse, especially towards his subordinates. These included both face-to-face interactions as well as company emails. To these Schneider responded that if there was confusion about his messaging it was because he had “high standards” going on to say, “I’m very willing to defend creative things I believe in.”
Where the truth lies in this situation is tough to tell. Clearly, there was a major break in the relationship between Nickelodeon and Dennis Schneider back in 2018. It was then that he abruptly left the company under cloudy circumstances. His production company was responsible for a number of different hit shows on the network including Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, and Henry Danger among many others. These were through his Schneiders Bakery company. iCarly is starting up a reboot for Paramount+ but Schneider isn’t involved in that project.
Though both sides were rather mum on the topic, making it all that much more conspicuous considering the popularity of his shows, it did appear as if the break wasn’t under the best of circumstances. But this was following a year in 2017 that saw Nickelodeon reach new ratings highs thanks to a number of hit shows, many of them coming from Schneider and his company. The ratings have dropped over the subsequent years.
Schneider is no longer working with Nickelodeon in the same capacity, but as part of this most recent interview did mention he had written and sold a pilot to another network. Details on this are under wraps right now, but it appears he is working on an industry comeback. Whether he and the network ever reconcile their differences remains to be seen. It’s unlikely considering the shared history and the thought that there may have been more issues that the sides have let on about over the years.
