Dan Schneider eyes TV comeback, denies allegations he acted inappropriately

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/a...ckelodeon.html

The "King of Tween Comedies" who was responsible for creating iCarly, Zoey 101, The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh and other Nickelodeon hits abruptly exited the cable network in March 2018 amid allegations that he was verbally abusive on set. There was also speculation that he had a foot fetish when it came to his stars. Some fans noted that the iCarly reboot was made without Schneider's input. Schneider recently spoke to The New York Times in his first major interview since his departure, but declined to comment on Nickelodeon's investigation into his workplace behavior that consisted of dozens of interviews with employees. Schneider exited Nickelodeon after the investigation. “I took a break to take care of a lot of stuff that I’d let go by the wayside for decades,” Schneider said, noting that he lost more than 100 pounds during his time off. “Whatever I do next, I want it to outdo what I’ve done in the past.” He called the allegations he had a foot fetish "ridiculous," adding that social media can freely push forward “any lie.” “The comedy,” he said, “was totally innocent.” Schneider said he never acted inappropriately with people with whom he worked. “I couldn’t, and I wouldn’t have the long-term friendships and continued loyalty from so many reputable people if I’d mistreated my actors of any age, especially minors,” he said. Schneider added that if people perceived him as “difficult,” it was because he has “high standards...I’m very willing to defend creative things that I believe in." Schneider told The Times after a three-year hiatus, he's ready to return to television with an “ambitious and very different” pilot that he has written and sold to another network. But the new show is aimed at “more of an adult audience,” he said, and he should know by the end of July whether it has been greenlit. Meanwhile, Schneider said he bears no ill will toward Nickelodeon, and says he wishes everyone involved with the iCarly revival “the best.”

• Article opens on the 2014 Kids Choice Awards where many of the stars on Schneider's beloved television shows celebrated him and presented him with Nickelodeon's first (and only) Lifetime Achievement Award.

• But in spring 2018 he and Nickelodeon suddenly parted ways and Schneider disappeared from public life. His Twitter went silent and despite the statement saying he and Nickelodeon ended their partnership so he could pursue other projects, none came to fruition. The iCarly reboot on Paramount Plus happened with zero involvement from him.

• The truth behind his departure is finally out it seems, as interviews the New York Times conducted with former co-workers and executives reveal that "many people he worked with viewed him as verbally abusive."

• Schneider defends the way he ran his sets and production, and denies that he left the studio on bad terms at all. Says his departure was 'a natural confluence of events' after running so many shows that produced upwards of 50 episodes a year

• The piece deftly writes around the accusations lobbed at Schneider (you know which ones), and he calls them ridiculous and it was social media pushing ~any lie~. "Kids find feet goofy and funny, he said, and there was no effort to sexualize his young stars."

• The bosses at ViacomCBS paid attention to the online chatter though and in 2018 they interviewed dozens of employees. The review found no evidence of sexual misconduct conducted by Schneider, but found evidence of verbal abuse.

• In recent interviews former employees said they found him to be controlling, difficult, prone to tantrums, and made employees feel like they were walking on eggshells

• Several employees said he made them feel uncomfortable when he asked a costume department employee for shoulder and neck massages (something he apparently did frequently). He was also known to text the child actors working on his shows outside of work hours.

• Schneider denies that he ever acted inappropriately, says he wouldn't be able to have 'long term' friendships and the loyalty of 'so many reputable people' if he had mistreated any of the actors on his shows.

• Says that he was seen as difficult because he had ~high standards~

• The piece includes several fawning paragraphs about his early life and rise to prominence within the network and there's a lot of "he's just a big kid!!" energy here.

• Some people working on his shows who asked for anonymity out of fear that he would punish them for speaking out said that they found his relationships with his teen stars awkward and odd. "Several recalled that he often spent time during the work day interacting with young fans online and, after work, texting child actors about silly matters of teenage internet life."

• Defends his interaction with young fans online, saying that he only talked to them "in very public ways" and that he texted so frequently with his stars because that was their preferred mode of communication.

• Former crew members talk about how Schneider viewed himself as "king" of the Nick studios with a private bathroom located next to one the rest of the crew used, and how staff members used to push him from room to room in a roller chair.

• Some former colleagues speak out about how he was a workaholic who frequently yelled and expected workers to put in 16 to 20 hour days and for writers to work on weekends at his home.

• One writer, Arthur Gradstein, praises Schneider and says he taught him a lot but then goes on to say: “he was also unreasonably demanding, controlling, belittling and vindictive, with a wilful disregard for boundaries or workplace appropriateness.”

• Some former colleagues talked about how Schneider's attitude is not uncommon in Hollywood, but that it was harder to bear because it was children's television.

• Other colleagues (including actress Yvette Nicole Brown and former Nick exec Tracy Katsky) said that they never saw his cool and that his 'zealous' attention to detail and refusal to settle is what made his shows so popular.

• Schneider denies all the accounts, and says he holds no ill will towards Nickelodeon and that he wishes everyone involved with the iCarly reboot "the best"

• The article concludes with the news that Schneider has several projects in development and has sold a pilot to another network.