A new bombshell report about Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider is shedding light on years of rumors of inappropriate behavior on the sets of his shows, including iCarly, Victorious and Zoey 101. Not long after iCarly star Jennette McCurdy published a memoir which included references to “the creator,” sparking renewed conversation about Schneider’s Nickelodeon tenure, Insider launched an investigation; and the results are, predictably, pretty bleak.
While few stars from Schneider’s shows went on the record with Insider, one actress, Daniella Monet, shared her own uncomfortable experience working with him on Victorious. Monet, who starred on the series as Trina Vega, told Insider some of the show’s costumes were “not age appropriate” for the teen stars, noting she “wouldn’t even wear some of that today as an adult.”
Monet said it wasn’t just the outfits that were questionable, though. In one instance, she filmed a Victorious scene in which she applied lip gloss while eating a pickle; while she shared her concerns about the sexual implications of the bit with Nickelodeon, the network still included it in an episode.
“Do I wish certain things, like, didn’t have to be so sexualized?” the actress — who described most of her experience on Victorious as “very PC, funny, silly, friendly, chill” — said to Insider. “Yeah. A hundred percent.”
Insider also spoke with Zoey 101‘s Alexa Nikolas, who recalled a scene in which her costar, Jamie Lynn Spears, had green goop squirted onto her face. Spears was 13 years old at the time, and Nikolas claims a male costar describing the moment as “like a come shot.”
Schneider made a reputation for “thumbing his nose” at network standards, Insider alleges, and would approve all outfits while often “campaign[ing] for the skimpier options.”
Russell Hicks, a former Nickelodeon exec, told Insider that Schneider’s content wad carefully reviewed, insisting the scripts for his shows were approved by standards and practices and that parents and guardians were on every set.
“Every single thing that Dan ever did on any of his shows was carefully scrutinized and approved,” he said in an email.
Along with the claims of inappropriate content on his shows, the environment in the writers rooms was also questionable, according to Insider’s reporting. A source who worked as a writer on one of Schneider’s shows claimed to Insider that the producer “openly stated he didn’t like having female writers in the writers room” and accused him of forming a “maddening, disgusting, controlling little bubble.”
Schneider also reportedly requested massages from two female Amanda Show writers, which a source told Insider the producer now regrets. Given the decades of rumors and allegations against Schneider which included a 2018 investigation by what was then called ViacomCBS, it’s possible this Insider report may be just scratching the surface.
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