Kenan Thompson has opened up about his time as a child star at Nickelodeon and the new perspective he has gained on it following the release of “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” a new documentary series that features allegations of abuse against crew members at the network.
Thompson’s comments came Wednesday during an interview on the daytime talk show “Tamron Hall,” touching on his new production banner AFA, his record-breaking tenure on “Saturday Night Live” and his new memoir “When I Was Your Age.” “Saturday Night Live” airs on NBC, which is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.
Thompson got started as a child performer, though, serving as an original cast member of the teenage-cast sketch show “All That” and starring alongside his peer Kel Mitchell in the sitcom “Kenan & Kel” and the feature film “Good Burger,” all of which were produced by Nickelodeon. During the interview with Hall, Thompson confirmed that he has not watched “Quiet on Set,” which features allegations of abusive behavior against “All That” producer and “Good Burger” writer Dan Schneider, who produced and created several Nickelodeon sitcoms.
The Investigation Discovery docuseries featured several actors and former child stars who allege Schneider engaged in inappropriate behavior and created a toxic work environment — including asking female crew members to give him massages and making sexual jokes on set.
“Facing my past behaviors — some of which are embarrassing and that I regret — and I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” Schneider said in an interview last week following the premiere of “Quiet on Set.”
Thompson said he personally didn’t encounter any such behavior while at Nickelodeon.
“It’s a tough subject. It’s tough for me because I can’t really speak on things that I never witnessed. All these things happened after I left, basically. Dan [Schneider] wasn’t really on ‘Kenan & Kel’ like that. He got a ‘Created by’ credit, but it was a different showrunner,” Thompson shared. “All that negativity kind of started happening outside of our tenure [at Nickelodeon]. I wasn’t really aware of a lot of it, but my heart goes out to anyone that’s been victimized, or their families.”
“It’s a good thing that the doc is out and it’s putting things on display that need to be, stories that need to be told for accountability’s sake. But it’s definitely tough to watch because I have fond memories of that place,” Thompson continued. “I have fond memories of my co-stars. To hear that they’ve gone through terrible things like that, it’s really tough.”
When Hall continued by saying that the talk show had reached out to Nickelodeon and that the network stated it was conducting investigations into all allegations, Thompson interrupted: “Well, investigate more. It’s supposed to be a safe space. It’s supposed to be a safe place for kids. So to hear all that is like, ‘How dare you.’”
“Quiet on Set” details the alleged on-set treatment of child actors, primarily at Nickelodeon shows in the ’90s and early ’00s.
The series recently announced a fifth episode, which will feature interviews with “The Amanda Show” and “Drake & Josh” star Drake Bell, “All That” cast members Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne, Hearne’s mother, Tracey Brown, as well as new interviewee, “All That” cast member Shane Lyons.
