Summary
- Kel Mitchell recalls confrontation with Dan Schneider on
All That
set, with Schneider screaming at him in a closet. - Schneider is accused of inappropriate behavior, gender discrimination, verbal abuse, and creating sexualized work environment.
- Schneider apologizes for past actions in response to allegations, admitting regret and expressing desire to do things differently.
Kel Mitchell revealed a tense encounter with Dan Schneider on the set of All That, claiming Schneider screamed at him in a closet. The former Nickelodeon star spoke about the incident during the June 11 episode of Keke Palmer’s podcast, Baby, This is Keke Palmer. At the time, Mitchell was about 18 or 19 years old, and Schneider was a writer on the popular sketch series.
“The vibe of the show started to change a little bit. [The show’s co-creator] Brian Robbins
started to do ‘
Varsity Blues’
and all these different movies and the production team started to blow up, so they left. And they left us with the head writer, Dan Schneider. So he’s writing, and me and him kind of bump heads a little bit.”
Mitchell shared that on one occasion, he and Schneider “had a big argument on set:”
“He was like, ‘Let’s go over here to this room right here, in this closet.’ He closed the door and he just took off, you know, just yelling all this wild stuff.”
He added:
“Being an adult at this point, I had a decision to make, you know what I mean? I was just like, OK, either we [are] going to fight or either I’m going to leave. And so that’s what I did. I left the situation.”
Mitchell gained popularity for his comedic work on All That and Kenan & Kel. In both series, Mitchell starred alongside Kenan Thompson. The two later co-starred in the film Good Burger (written by Schneider) based on a sketch from All That. Mitchell and Thompson starred in a sequel, Good Burger 2, in 2023, and plan on working together again.
Dan Schneider’s Troubled Legacy
Nickelodeon
Mitchell’s comments follow a Discovery docuseries, Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which detailed inappropriate behavior at Nickelodeon (stemming from Schneider and others). The docuseries aired in March and featured cast and crew members speaking about Schneider’s unprofessional behavior (including gender discrimination, verbal abuse, and creating a sexualized work environment). The series also explored allegations of sexual abuse at the network. Most notably, Drake Bell, star of Drake & Josh, revealed that he was the victim of former dialogue coach Brian Peck. Peck was arrested in 2003 for sexually assaulting a minor and sentenced to prison after pleading no contest. It was previously unknown that Bell was the victim. Schneider created Drake & Josh, which aired from 2004 to 2007.
Schneider, who began his career as an actor in his teens before launching a production company in 1996, is best known for creating successful Nickelodeon shows like All That, iCarly, and Victorious, and launching the careers of Amanda Bynes and Ariana Grande. In 2018, he exited Nickelodeon.
Related All That Star Lori Beth Denberg Makes More Allegations Against Nickelodeon’s Dan Schneider
The allegations against Dan Schneider come in the wake of the docuseries Quiet on Set alleging that he fostered a toxic work environment.
Shortly after the documentary’s release, Schneider sat down for a conversation with iCarly’s BooG!e, where he apologized for his past actions. He shared:
“Watching over the past two nights was very difficult. Me facing my past behaviors — some of which are embarrassing and that I regret and I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”
Towards the end of the conversation, he claimed:
“There’s definitely things that I would do differently.”
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