By: Hunter Gilmore
In a new bombshell documentary titled “Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” actor Bryan Hearne joins a plethora of former child actors, including Giovonnie Samuels and Drake Bell, who have taken the industry by storm with their first hand accounts of racism, trauma, exploitation, and embarrassment. And despite producer Dan Schneider’s recent apology, many argue it’s too little too late.
Hearne candidly shared his distressing experiences as a child actor on the set of “All That.” While the comedy sketch series was marketed as a tween-friendly version of “Saturday Night Live,” Hearne faced racial slurs, tokenism, and degrading situations both behind the scenes and in front of the camera during his time on the show.
Now aged 35, Hearne was merely a young teenager when he joined the cast of “All That” for seasons 7 and 8, featuring in 16 episodes from 2000 to 2002, with his final appearance airing on February 22, 2003. Despite the laughter from the audience, Hearne was deeply troubled by certain skits, a feeling that’s lingered with him ever since. These disturbing revelations emerged with the premiere of “Quiet on the Set” on Investigation Discovery, where Hearne and other former child actors recounted their harrowing experiences on several of Nickelodeon’s popular TV shows from the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Many of these shows were either created or executive produced by Dan Schneider, who began his career in 1993 as a producer and writer for “All That” before moving on to produce “The Amanda Show,” “Drake & Josh,” “iCarly,” and “Zoey 101.” Schneider’s departure from the network in 2018 followed an internal investigation into his alleged verbal abuse and demanding conduct. In “Quiet on the Set,” Hearne exposed the racist environment he endured as one of the few Black child actors employed by Nickelodeon at the time. During the filming of “All That,” Hearne recalled an incident in which he was derogatorily referred to as a “piece of charcoal” during a costume discussion, a remark that left a lasting impact on him, as he shared with People magazine in a recent interview.
Additionally, Hearne found himself cast in racially stereotypical roles, such as playing a teenage “drug dealer” in one sketch and a rapper named “Lil Fetus” who delivered lines like “yo yo yo yo embryo” while dressed in a nude-colored leotard.
Moreover, Hearne’s most distressing experiences occurred during a recurring segment called “On Air Dare,” reminiscent of the reality competition show “Fear Factor.” In the documentary, he details the perilous and revolting scenarios he was forced to undertake as a 13-year-old child. In one instance, he was completely covered in peanut butter and licked clean by a dog. Reflecting on these experiences as an adult, Hearne described the scenario as “an uncomfortable fantasy from a bizarre individual.”
Above all, Hearne expressed regret at not being able to intervene, stating, “The most uncomfortable aspect was having to witness my fellow castmates essentially being subjected to torture.” In his conversation with People, he further explained, “We felt compelled to comply. It was an incredibly uncomfortable situation, and over time, it felt as though we were mere participants in this chamber of torment.”
Additionally, other child actors reportedly faced instances of sexually predatory behavior on several of Schneider’s popular Nickelodeon shows, with multiple convicted pedophiles among the crew, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. The newspaper detailed an instance where a crew member from “All That” described himself as a “full-blown pedophile,” leading to a six-year prison sentence on two felony counts, including one count of lewd acts on a child, with the assistance of an unidentified child actor from “The Amanda Show.”
On March 19, Schneider addressed the allegations made by former child stars who had worked with him throughout the years. During a 20-minute discussion with BooG!e, who portrayed T-Bo on Nickelodeon’s iCarly, Schneider admitted to the difficulty of watching the documentary and expressed regret for his past behaviors, acknowledging, “I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”
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