Featured Image Credit: Max
Topics: Film and TV
Callum Jones
This week has seen the release of the Investigation Discovery series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, with many disturbing allegations coming out.
The new documentary, which aired on March 17 and 18, has lifted the lid on some concerning backstage behavior alleged to have taken place at Nickelodeon.
Rapper and former child actors Leon Frierson is one of those to have revealed what it was like to work in kids TV.
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The 37-year-old, who starred in All That between season four and six, claimed that staying close to Dan Schneider was important if they wanted to progress in their careers.
Frierson admitted that he wanted to be a 'trooper' on set of the Nickelodeon show, despite the fact he was left feeling uncomfortable by certain sketches.
The former actor said in the documentary: "On All That, what really made me feel the most uncomfortable were the leotards.
"I was just a growing boy trying to fit into my body and it was just out there for everyone to kind of look at and judge me, or, I just felt very exposed."
And there was one particular script that left the former Nickelodeon star feeling extremely uncomfortable.
"One week we get a new script, there’s a character for me on All That named Nose Boy. Naturally, I’m in a superhero costume, which is just tights and underwear," he said.
"What was different about this, they gave me a prosthetic nose, an enlarged nose, and they put this same nose on the costume. You can’t help but notice that it looks like penis and testicles on my shoulders."
When Nose Boy sneezed in the sketch, a clear white substance shot through his nose.
After watching the documentary, viewers have been left heartbroken by Frierson's experience.
"Watching it now, my whole childhood was a lie. Can’t believe what these kids had to go through," one person penned on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"It took a decade and a documentary to see how perverted this s**t was back then," a second added.
A third added: "I feel like this has racist undertones."
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV has been full of allegations, with Drake Bell claiming he was sexually abused when he was 15 by Nickelodeon staffer.
In the new documentary, the Drake and Josh star claims he was abused by Brian Peck, a dialogue coach who worked on Nickelodeon's All That and The Amanda Show.
Back in August 2003, Peck was arrested on 11 charges related to allegations that he'd sexually abused an unnamed child.
In May 2004, Peck pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14-or-15-year-old, and to oral copulation with a minor under 16.
Peck was ultimately sentenced to 16 months in prison. He was also forced to register as a sex offender.
UNILAD has reached out to Nickelodeon for comment.