All That’s Lori Beth Denberg Alleges Dan Schneider Showed Her Porn, Initiated Phone Sex; Schneider Calls Claims ‘Exaggerated’ and ‘False’

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Former Nickelodeon actress Lori Beth Denberg says All That writer Dan Schneider showed her pornography and tried to start phone sex with her when she starred on the kids’ comedy series. This comes two weeks after Schneider filed a lawsuit against the producers of ID‘s Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV docuseries, which posited that Schneider’s myriad TV shows sexualized young child stars like Ariana Grande and Jamie Lynn Spears.

In an interview with Business Insider, Denberg claims Schneider repeatedly put her in uncomfortable situations where he had a clear power advantage during her four seasons on All That. She tells the trade that in addition to lashing out at her on set, he played porn for her on multiple occasions and once initiated phone sex.

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Responding to the allegations, Schneider tells TVLine in a statement: “Lori Beth’s accusations of me are wildly exaggerated and, in most cases, false.”

Schneider goes on to note that Kate Taylor, who wrote the Business Insider piece, is also an EP on Quiet on the Set. “The fact that [she] would pursue allegations regarding what may have happened between adults nearly 30 years ago — only a week after I filed a defamation lawsuit accusing Quiet on Set of being intentionally false and misleading — seems more than coincidental,” he says, before adding, “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.  If I did that with respect to Lori Beth, I sincerely apologize to her. But I cannot apologize for things I did not do.”

Quiet on the Set aired in March and featured cast and crew members who worked with Schneider at Nickelodeon throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In addition to claims of inappropriate workplace behavior, the special also featured crew members alleging that they were continuously asked to massage Schneider on set. “Dan deeply regrets asking anyone for neck massages,” Schneider’s team said in response at the time. “Though they happened in public settings, he knows this was highly inappropriate and would never happen again.”

Schneider was dropped from Nickelodeon in 2018. At the time, it was reported that “multiple complaints of abusive behavior” had been filed against him by members of his staff. Then, in 2021, it was reported that ViacomCBS had conducted an internal investigation of Schneider ahead of his departure from Nickelodeon; evidence of verbal abuse was found in that investigation, though evidence of sexual misconduct was not.

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