Nickelodeon Alum Lori Beth Denberg Claims Dan Schneider Showed Her Porn, Initiated Phone Sex amid ‘Abusive Friendship’
In a statement Schneider — whose past behaviors were examined in ‘Quiet on Set’ — denied Denberg’s accusations, calling them “wildly exaggerated and, in most cases, false”
Two months after Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV brought new allegations against Dan Schneider, All That alum Lori Beth Denberg is coming forward with her own claims about the former Nickelodeon producer.
Denberg, 48, claimed in an interview with Business Insider that Schneider’s alleged abuse began around her 19th birthday in 1995. At the time, she alleged Schneider — who was then the head writer of All That — asked for a meeting and showed her clips of pornography on his computer.
Denberg, who appeared on All That from 1994 to 1998, claimed the “grand finale” of the clips was a video which depicted a woman performing oral sex on a donkey. She claimed, “I feel like that is the first time he preyed on me.”
The actress alleged that Schneider, 58, continued to lash out at her on set, played porn for her and once initiated phone sex. Denberg claimed she and Schneider had a “weird, abusive friendship,” noting their relationship turned sexual when she was around 19.
At the time, she alleged that they would discuss sexual topics, give each other massages and he would play porn on his computer when she spent late nights or slept over at the producer’s home. However, she noted the pair were not sexually intimate.
Denberg claimed that changed when she was 20 or 21 after Schneider allegedly made a bet with her while watching Jeopardy! with the winner getting a massage. After she won, he allegedly fondled and put his mouth on her breasts during the incident.
Denberg admitted that she didn’t find these experiences inappropriate at the time but later saw the power imbalance at play, claiming, “I couldn’t have been more green. I couldn’t have been more vulnerable.”
Denberg recalled an alleged incident with Schneider in which he asked a group of writer and crew members if they thought her breasts were different sizes during a group dinner. She noted that she threw a piece of bread at him in an effort to stop the conversation but he allegedly then screamed at her and stormed out of the restaurant.
“It was one of those turns that was just really upsetting and scary,” she claimed. “Everyone else seemed to completely blow it off.”
In another alleged incident, Denberg describes driving with Schneider to an auto repairman when they were pulled over by police. She alleged that Schneider had a gun and made her conceal it under her skirt so the officer wouldn’t see it.
Schneider responded to Denberg’s allegations in a statement, saying, “Lori Beth’s accusations of me are wildly exaggerated and, in most cases, false.”
“The fact that an Executive Producer of Quiet on Set would pursue allegations regarding what may have happened between adults nearly thirty 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,” the statement continues.
“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,” the statement concludes. “If I did that with respect to Lori Beth, I sincerely apologize to her. But I cannot apologize for things I did not do.”
A spokesperson at Nickelodeon did not immediately return a request for comment.
Of her decision to come forward, Denberg said she hopes it encourages others to feel safe speaking their truths as well. She explained, “There’s right and wrong, and there’s true and false.”
After the first two episodes premiered, Schneider released an on-camera video responding to the disturbing revelations the series publicized. “Facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret. I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” he said, in part, later adding that his past actions were “wrong” and he’d “never do it today.”
On May 1, Schneider filed a defamation lawsuit against the producers of the series, claiming they falsely implied he sexually abused Nickelodeon’s child actors and attempted to associate the Nickelodeon showrunner with two convicted child sex offenders — Peck and Jason Handy.
“Schneider had no knowledge of their abuse, was not complicit in the abuse, condemned the abuse once it was discovered and, critically, was not a child sexual abuser himself,” the filing read.
Representatives for Warner Bros. Discovery, who were listed as defendants, did not respond to a request for comment at the time.
Quiet on Set is now streaming on Max and Discovery+.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
