Dan Schneider Loses His ‘Quiet on Set’ Defamation Appeal

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV producers have won a major defamation appeal against former Nickelodeon showrunner Dan Schneider. A California appeals court ruled that the documentary did not falsely imply Schneider sexually abused child actors. Schneider sued Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony, and producers Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz in 2024. He claimed the Investigation Discovery series linked him to child sex abuse committed by others at Nickelodeon. A lower-court judge initially allowed the case to move forward. But a three-judge appeals panel ruled unanimously Thursday that Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV made clear distinctions between allegations against Schneider and crimes attributed to other people. “The documentary clearly distinguishes between the lamentable conduct that its participants attribute to Schneider — gender discrimination, harassment, toxic workplace behavior, and inappropriate sexual innuendo — and the child sexual abuse explicitly attributed to three named individuals, two of whom are discussed at length,” Judge Melanie Ochoa wrote for the panel. Ochoa also noted that the documentary stated Nickelodeon investigated Schneider and found inappr...