Article by Fernando Rover Jr., — April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Every April, programming and resources are provided to help shrink the number of incidents of child abuse.
Hollywood is one of the most misunderstood places regarding experiences of children and teenagers. What is often thought to be this place that represents magic, joy, money, popularity, and power, is often fraught with pedophilia, workplace abuse, and traumatic imprints on future adulthood. Examples of this include: Shirley Temple, Michael Jackson, Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen, Macaulay Culkin, and more.
Actor and comedian Kenan Thompson is famous for his roles on popular television shows Saturday Night Live, Kenan & Kel, and All That. The latter two were flagship shows on the popular and now infamous network Nickelodeon, which is at the center of some controversial discoveries surrounding network practices of several staff members and their treatment and abuse of several former child stars.
Nickelodeon was the quintessential children’s program network in the 1990’s, 2000’s, and early 2010’s. Known for its collection of both animated and live-action sitcoms such as Rugrats, Spongebob Squarepants, Hey Arnold, Clarissa Explains It All, The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Victorious, etc. But perhaps the best known show was All That. A kid focused comedy sketch show in the vein of other popular sketch shows like In Living Color and the aforementioned Saturday Night Live, All That featured various scenarios utilizing various comedy techniques. It also was the origin of many famous child/teenage stars of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s such as Amanda Bynes, Lori Beth Denberg, Alisa Reyes, Giovannie Samuels, and Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson.
Recently, a four part documentary called Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids Tv, examined behind the scenes secrets surrounding treatment of the kids on Nickelodeon sets. Many of the aforementioned stars are either featured or spoken about in regards to several incidents of inappropriate sexual practices surrounding minors.
Thompson recently was asked about his opinion but also his own experiences working for the network. Writers Carly Thomas, Tatiana Tenreyro, and Zoe G Philips, in their 2024 article for The Hollywood Reporter, write, “While appearing on The Tamron Hall Show on March 27, Kenan Thompson, who started his career on All That and then starred in his own show Kenan & Kel, also voiced his support…’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 this, accountability sake. But it’s definitely tough to watch because I have fond memories of that place, and I have fond memories of my co-stars and stuff like that. So to hear that they’ve gone through terrible things like that, it’s just, it’s really tough.’”
Thompson also added that he had no direct interactions with Dan Schneider, the defamed creator and showrunner of shows such as All That, Kenan & Kel, The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious, and Sam & Cat. Thompson added, “Because all these things happened after I left, basically, and Dan [Schneider] wasn’t really 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.”
Thompson’s comments join the reckoning of several former child stars that recently went to social media to voice their support and their own experiences. The reception of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV has garnered much attention with many of those who watched the documentary were children who grew up watching these aforementioned shows.
The impact of this documentary will forever change not only children’s programming but also how children will enter Hollywood.
