Kenan Thompson Breaks Silence On Nickelodeon ‘Quiet On Set’ Docuseries

Kenan Thompson broke his silence on the explosive Nickelodeon documentary Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. Thompson recently appeared on an episode of the Tamron Hall Show. The SNL star was asked about his experience working on Nick’s Kenan & Kel and All That as a kid and teenager in the 1990s-2000s.

Hall began by sharing an excerpt from Thompson’s upcoming memoir When I Was Your Age, which detailed his connection with child star Amanda Bynes. Thompson described Bynes, who started her career at 13 on Nickelodeon, as their work “little sister.” “She was adorable and had a ginormous range of talent,” Thompson wrote in the book. “She was the best, man; we were very close. She was like all of our little sisters, and we were all very protective of her… Unfortunately, some leeches sent her down a dark path. When she went left for a little while, we all were sad. I cared about her, and I still do. She’s good people.”

Hall then asked Kenan about his thoughts regarding the Nickelodeon documentary. The acclaimed comedian looked visibly uncomfortable by the thought of the series. He fought through the discomfort and gave his thoughts, offering support for those directly impacted.

“It’s a tough subject because, it’s tough for me because I can’t really speak on things that I’ve never witnessed,” Thompson said, visibly distraught and fighting back tears. “Because all these things happened after I left, and Dan [Schneider] wasn’t on Kenan & Kel like that. I mean, he got a ‘created by’ credit, but it was a different showrunner. So our worlds weren’t really overlapping outside of all that, necessarily. And then all that negativity kind of started happening outside of our tenure there.”

“I wasn’t really aware of a lot of it, but my heart goes out to anybody that’s been victimized or their families. I mean, I think it’s a good thing that the doc is out, and it’s putting things on display that need to be, you know, stories that need to be told for… accountability sake. But it’s tough to watch because I have fond memories of that place, and I have fond memories of my co-stars. So to hear that they’ve gone through terrible things like that, it’s just, it’s really tough.”

Thompson also called for a deeper investigation into Nickelodeon to uncover more hidden dirt in search of proper justice.

Quiet On Set was released on Mar. 17 on Max. The series goes behind the scenes of the golden era of Nickelodeon. The series outlines shocking allegations of racism, abuse, sexism, and inappropriate relationships and behavior with minors starring in the network’s most popular shows. Most of the doc is based around acclaimed creator Dan Schneider and his role in the reported nastiness. Shows mentioned in the documentary include Drake & Josh, The Amanda Show iCarly, and Victorious.

Drake Bell, star of Drake & Josh, was featured in the documentary and recalled being abused by an ex-dialogue coach, Brian Peck. Peck was later arrested in 2003 and pleaded no contest to committing lewd acts against a child. He was only sentenced to 16 months in jail.

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