In the wake of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, a documentary series exploring the disturbing allegations of misconduct on various sets during the heyday of Nickelodeon, further details have emerged about infamous producer Dan Schneider. Lori Beth Denberg, who starred in the original cast of All That, opened up about her deeply inappropriate interactions with Schneider in a new interview with Business Insider.
Schneider was head writer on All That throughout the four seasons in which Denberg appeared, and the interview with Business Insider details an alleged event shortly after Denberg’s 19th birthday in which Schneider asked for a meeting, then began showing the actress clips of pornography on his computer. Denberg claimed that the “grand finale” of footage showed a woman performing oral sex on a donkey.
Later in the interview, Denberg recalls alleged sleepovers that took place at Schneider’s home, massages that devolved into sexual touching, and phone sex initiated by Schneider, most of which took place when Denberg was still a teenager.
The claims of Schneider showing pornography in the workplace align with other allegations featured in Quiet On Set, where a writer on The Amanda Show named Jenny Kilgen claimed that Schneider would show his staff pornography to “see how far he could push.”
Following the initial release of Quiet on Set, Schneider sued the producers of the docuseries for defamation. He also replied to Business Insider, saying, “As I have previously stated, there were times, particularly in the early years of my career, that I made mistakes and exhibited poor judgment as a leader.” He continued, “If I did that with respect to Lori Beth, I sincerely apologize to her. But I cannot apologize for things I did not do.”
Schneider also criticized the timing of Denberg’s interview, calling its arrival so close to his defamation suit “more than coincidental.” He doubled down on his stance, calling her allegations “wildly exaggerated and, in most cases, false.”
Denberg confirmed that Quiet on Set encouraged her to speak out in detail about the upsetting episodes with Schneider and hoped others would be able to do the same, saying, “There’s right and wrong, and there’s true and false.”
