The allegations of abuse and toxicity at kids network Nickelodeon that have been exposed in the recent Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV have elicited reactions from former child stars at the network including Kenan Thompson, Josh Peck, and now Melissa Joan Hart, who starred on five seasons of Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains It All in the ‘90s.
“I absolutely trust them, believe them, one hundred percent,” Hart said on Thursday’s episode of Meghan McCain’s podcast of alleged exploitation shared by fellow former child stars including Drake Bell, who speaks on camera in the series about being sexually abused by vocal coach Brian Peck. Bell met Peck on the set of The Amanda Show. In 2004, Peck was convicted on sexual abuse charges, sentenced to 16 months in prison, and ordered to register as a sex offender.
“I don’t know other people’s experiences and I’m not negating anything anybody else says,” Hart cautioned. “I’ve never been told these people’s stories that are in the documentary. And I have to say, I’ve never heard a story from a Nickelodeon star personally. No one’s come to me and talked to me about any of these situations.”
The actor, who starred on her Nickelodeon series from 1991 to 1994, added that her experience may have differed from those of other minors working with the network because Clarissa filmed in Florida. “I think maybe there was a difference between Orlando Nickelodeon and Hollywood Nickelodeon, although I’m not 100 percent sure on that,” Hart explained. “There weren’t a lot of executives [where I was], they were in New York… In Orlando, I had nothing but a wonderful experience.”
If there was anything unsavory about her first major TV show, which predated Hart’s time on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, it was long hours in which production was “[working] the kids a lot harder than they probably legally should.” But Hart maintained the cast and crew “were protective of me” and that she felt “very safe” on set. “So I don’t know if it was the difference in Orlando, or the time period or whoever these guys were they weren’t around,” she added, “but I have to say not every egg in the Nickelodeon basket is rotten. There are good eggs.”
A follow-up episode of Quiet on Set, titled “Breaking the Silence,” premieres April 7 on Investigation Discovery and then streams on Max.
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