Former Nickelodeon Star Lori Beth Denberg Says Dan Schneider Preyed On Her

Lori Beth Denberg, who starred in the hit children’s TV show ‘All That’ in the 1990s, has accused her former Nickelodeon boss Dan Schneider of ‘attacking’ her while showing her pornography , once by caressing her and another time by initiating phone sex.

The allegations by Denberg, now 48, were made in an interview with Business Insider, which reported Tuesday that the actress said she felt Schneider acted inappropriately toward her over a period of time. where they worked together. She said that at age 19 she entered into a “strange and abusive relationship” with Schneider, who was 10 years older.

“I couldn’t have been more vulnerable,” she said in the interview.

The interview comes as Schneider’s conduct at Nickelodeon has drawn attention in a new documentary series airing in March: “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.” In the series, several former employees criticized the way Schneider treated them – claiming, among other things, that he solicited massages on set – while objecting to sexualized humor on his shows and inappropriate jokes in the writers room.

In the interview with Business Insider, Denberg said she sometimes slept over at Schneider’s, who was the editor-in-chief of “All That,” and that while they weren’t intimate, they exchanged massages. At one point, however, she said in the interview, she won a bet while watching “Jeopardy!” », and Schneider took the opportunity to caress and place his mouth on her breasts.

Denberg starred in “All That” between 1994 and 1998 and returned for its revival several years ago. She told Business Insider that she didn’t necessarily consider their interactions inappropriate at the time, given that she was over 18, but that in recent years she began to struggle with the power imbalance that existed between her and Schneider. She said he showed her porn several times and the first time was in his office.

In a statement, Schneider, who filed a lawsuit against the creators of the documentary series “Quiet on Set” for defamation, called Denberg’s account “grossly exaggerated and, in most cases, false.”

“As I have said before, there were times, particularly in the early years of my career, when I made mistakes and demonstrated poor judgment as a leader,” he said. Schneider said. “If I did this to Lori Beth, I sincerely apologize to her. But I can’t apologize for things I didn’t do.

The Business Insider article was written by Kate Taylor, who was also an executive producer on the series “Quiet on Set.”

The New York Times reported in 2021 that before Schneider and Nickelodeon split in 2018, ViacomCBS, Nickelodeon’s parent company, investigated him and found that many people he worked with considered him verbally abusive. But the company’s review found no evidence of sexual misconduct by Schneider.

Nickelodeon representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

Attempts to reach Denberg were not immediately successful.

In a video Schneider posted to YouTube after the docuseries aired, he apologized for some alleged behavior by former employees, including massages and inappropriate jokes in the writers’ room.

Schneider had declined to be interviewed for the docuseries, instead releasing a statement included in the documentary, in which he said that “everything that happened on the shows I aired was carefully scrutinized by dozens of adults involved” and that parents and guardians were always present during rehearsals and filming.

Alain Delaquérière contributed to the research.