Nickelodeon reportedly hired accused and convicted child molesters and pedophiles who worked on the set of kids shows that were produced by the Paramount-owned cable network.
Legal records obtained by DailyMail.com found that Nickelodeon employed or worked with five individuals who were ultimately convicted of sexually molesting children, as well as two others who were accused of pedophilia.
According to the report, at least one of those individuals was convicted of lewd acts with a child before he worked on the set of a kids shows that was produced by the network.
The staggering figure was previously unknown but came to light after a recent HBO documentary, titled “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids’ TV,” included testimonials from child actors who allege they were subjected to abuse on the sets of Nickelodeon shows such as “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” “Drake & Josh” and “Victorious.”
The Post reached out to Nickelodeon for comment.
The network said it has improved its safeguards, according to the Daily Mail.
In the documentary, former child star Drake Bell, now 37, alleged that when he was 15, he was sexually assaulted by Brian Peck, who worked as Nickelodeon’s dialogue coach.
Peck was arrested in 2003.
The next year, he was sentenced to 16 months in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender after pleading no contest to two child sexual abuse charges.
Peck went on to work for Disney.
In 2021, Bell, who co-starred alongside Josh Peck (no relation to Brian Peck) on “Drake & Josh,” pleaded guilty to attempted child endangerment and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.
Prosecutors alleged that he sent “inappropriate social media messages” to a 15-year-old and “created a risk of harm to the victim” when she attended his concert in 2017.
The HBO documentary also revealed that Jason Handy, a Nickelodeon production assistant who described himself in his personal journal as a “pedophile, full blown,” sent a photo of himself masturbating to Brandi Carlile, who at the time was the 11-year-old actress who guest-starred on “The Amanda Show.”
In 2004, Handy pleaded no contest to felony counts of lewd acts on a 9-year-old child, distributing sexually explicit material and a misdemeanor of child sexual exploitation.
He was sentenced to six years in federal prison.
After his release, he was once again charged with indecent liberties with a child and sex offender registry violations.
Handy remains incarcerated in federal prison. His release date has been set for 2038.
Marty Weiss, a 58-year-old talent manager who steered clients to Nickelodeon, was convicted of lewd acts with a 12-year-old male client.
A former client told police in 2012 that he was molested by Weiss between 30 and 40 times over a period of three years when the boy was around 11 years old.
Weiss served less than six months in jail.
Cody Longo, the star of “Hollywood Heights,” a show that aired on TeenNick in 2012, was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in Colorado in 2019.
Longo pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in 2021.
Last year, Longo, who struggled with alcoholism, was found dead at his Austin, Texas, home. He was 34.
Ezell Channel, 54, was hired as a production assistant at Nickelodeon in 2005 despite his 2003 conviction for lewd acts with a child under 14.
In 2005, a mother reported Channel to the police after prosecutors alleged that he lured a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old into a studio, showed them pornography and inappropriately touched them.
Channel was convicted and then released again in 2010.
He is currently homeless in Los Angeles, according to DailyMail.com.
The HBO documentary devoted two episodes to Dan Schneider, a producer of several hit kids shows on Nickelodeon.
While Schneider was not accused of any sexual misconduct, he was alleged to have fostered a culture of bullying, sexism and racism.
He has denied the claims.
The documentary included a video showing Schneider in a hot tub alongside child star Amanda Bynes.
Schneider, 58, broke his silence on Monday.
A rep for the former king of kid TV shows said: “Everything that happened on the shows Dan ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults, and approved by the network.”
“If there was an actual problem with the scenes that some people, now years later are ‘sexualizing,’ they would be taken down, but they are not, they are aired constantly all over the world today still, enjoyed by both kids and parents.”
https://nypost.com/2024/03/28/media/nickelodeon-hired-or-worked-with-child-molesters-pedophiles/
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