The new docuseries reveals explosive allegations
behind the scenes at Nickelodeon.
Some really disturbing allegations.
Now in this new documentary...
It hits you immediately
how inappropriate some of this content was.
[Soledad O'Brien] Quiet on Set The Dark Side of Kids TV shined a spotlight
on the toxic and dangerous culture
behind some of the most iconic children's shows
of the late 90s and early 2000s.
[Jenny Kilgen] My lawyer filed complaints.
Gender discrimination, hostile work environment.
[Scaachi Koul] Actual pedophiles on set.
There are all these setups that reference porn.
[Alexa Nikolas] Once I saw it again as an adult,
it was like, oh, oh. Oh.
[Drake Bell] I was just trapped.
I had no way out.
[O'Brien] And the series brought to light
Hollywood's own shocking involvement.
[Kate Taylor] These letters show how strong the support was
for a convicted sexual predator,
with people with industry connections.
It gets me so mad I get so emotional about it.
Protect your kids.
[O'Brien] The series has gone viral,
launching a thousand conversations,
provoking shock, outrage...
This creep was behind that [bleep]
[O'Brien] ...and heartbreak.
So much of this country's entertainment industry is built on harming children.
As long as those checks come in, that's what mattered to y'all.
What I do want to talk about is never letting this stuff happen again.
[O'Brien] In this episode, we'll talk to Drake Bell
for the first time since the series premiered,
I'm curious why you decided to participate
after all these years of not talking about it.
We'll air never-before-seen footage from the series,
as well as new insights from those closest to the story.
So what brought you back together?
[Tracey Brown] The documentary.
It was a light bulb moment.
[O'Brien] And hear from a cast member of All That
who will speak out for the first time.
Join us as we dig deeper and break the silence
on the disturbing world of kids entertainment.
Thank you so much for joining us.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
In this special episode of Quiet On Set,
we'll bring you new insights
from those closest to the story
starting with Drake Bell himself.
In the days since Drake came forward
as the John Doe victim in the 2003 child sex abuse case
against his dialogue coach Brian Peck,
the reaction has been swift.
Both an outpouring of support and horror that this could have happened
under the watchful eye of so many adults.
[Bell] I didn't feel like anyone knew anything.
I was under the impression that this was just a big, giant secret.
I just hoped and prayed
that one day it would just stop.
I often look back at that time and wonder
how in the world I survived.
-[O'Brien] Drake, welcome. -Thank you.
So I'm curious why you decided to participate after...
After all these years of not talking about it.
The-- The choice to participate was a tough one.
It was a really hard decision to make
because I'd been approached before
and wasn't ready and said no, and...
But when I-- When the people from the doc reached out to me,
and I was speaking with-- With Emma,
she just made me feel really comfortable
and she took her time and was really sensitive.
I was able to feel like I could open up to her
and... I don't know.
I just felt maybe this is the time--
This is the time to tell my story.
[O'Brien] In the child sex abuse case against Brian Peck,
you described the moment you walk into the courtroom
and you see it packed with many well-known faces.
But they're not there for you.
[Bell] On the day of sentencing for Brian,
I get to the courthouse.
It was the most unbelievable thing I'd ever seen.
His entire side of the courtroom... was full.
There were definitely some recognizable faces on that side of the room.
And my side was...
Me, my mom and my brother.
Brian had been convicted.
But getting all of this support
from a lot of people in the industry and...
Yeah, I was pretty shocked.
We wanted to understand
who in Hollywood was supporting Brian through this.
So we petitioned the court to unseal the letters of support in this case.
[O'Brien] Will Friedle and Rider Strong from Boy Meets World
wrote letters in support of Brian Peck.
Then they recently spoke about it on their podcast.
[Will Friedle speaking]
Hearing from Will and hearing from Ryder, does it...
Does it change at all how you think about that day now?
I mean...
No.
I worked-- I worked with Will on Spider-Man
and there was a lot of opportunity to...
Apologize or talk about it and never did.
But also, I mean, it's a very difficult subject to bring up,
I mean, especially in a work environment.
So... And that's the thing that's hard about this
is because everybody deals with their trauma in different ways.
Everybody comes to different conclusions
at different times in their lives and realizations,
and I mean, I really appreciate
that they've... You know, their perspective now.
But I mean, that day is so ingrained in my mind,
and there's so many people who I mean, I haven't...
Nobody's reached out to me.
-Nobody's... -No one else?
-[Bell] I mean-- -No one at all?
Personally? Personally, no, not one person who's written
one of those letters has reached out to me.
The thing I have found, really shocking, I guess,
is the idea that this wasn't a bigger scandal 21 years ago.
That... boggles my mind.
I mean, three or four months prior to his arrest,
was the Jason Handy case.
And then Brian gets arrested and...
-Nothing. -[Bell] No articles.
I mean, there's nothing about it.
I mean, I think there was something
on the nightly news about the arrest.
But for those two cases to happen so closely together
and at the same network on the same show?
It allowed him to go to work on other shows,
go work on other kid's shows on other kids networks.
As a registered sex offender.
Exactly! Exactly! As a registered sex offender, going and working on--
And it was just unbelievable, and it just...
I think that there being no media coverage played a huge part in that.
I was surprised in the documentary
about Dan Schneider's support of you.
How does that square with what basically everybody else said
about their treatment by Dan?
I mean, it was very hard to watch.
It was really hard to watch because I can only speak from my experience
and I can't take away from anyone else's experience.
You know, I can just say that during this time with Brian,
Dan was really the only one from the network
that even made an effort
to... help me and make sure I was okay.
Let's pause there.
But we have so much more to talk about.
We'll be right back.
He was so good at what he was doing.
Brian, he was so calculated.
He knew exactly what to say, how to say it, what to do.
Why did you want to come forward?
I think the only way we can change
is to really evaluate the past,
and I have some perspective to share on that.
We're back with Drake Bell continuing to share his story.
So, Drake, you mentioned that you've been processing and dealing with your trauma.
Can you talk about how your...
How you're dealing with it?
And when you look at other actors--
I mean Amanda Bynes, who's in the doc as well.
I mean, when you see her story and her struggle...
Is that-- Do you look and think, you know,
this is also part of what happens when you're a child actor?
Well, I mean, with Amanda and so many others,
I mean, we've lost so many that aren't here anymore.
And it's just-- I've watched tragedy over--
After tragedy after tragedy in this business and...
And it's just heartbreaking.
I went many years not wanting to even talk about it at all.
Not in therapy, not with my friends, not with my family.
I-- I kind of started--
There was a lot of things happening in my personal life
that were really difficult,
and I started to just kind of...
You know...
I guess spiral is the best way to put it.
And so when I went to rehab, I... It was--
It wasn't just 45 min with your doctor twice a week.
It was from 8:00 o'clock in the morning
until 8:00 o'clock at night.
Uh, 10:00 o'clock at night.
Therapy all day.
Trauma therapy, group therapy, one on one, all of this stuff.
And I mean-- And I think a lot of the help was being in groups
where you're hearing other people's stories and going,
"Oh my gosh, I'm not alone."
And it was really helpful to...
Start facing this stuff head on.
Obviously, things like DUIs and choices that I've made in my life,
they are decisions I made on my own.
So I do have to take accountability
and responsibility for those things.
But It's really eye opening to...
Get down to maybe what's the root cause,
you know, where is this coming from.
You talk a lot in the doc about your mom and your dad as well.
How is your relationship with them now
and have things changed since the doc came out?
No, my dad's very emotional.
But I mean, we have a... A fantastic relationship,
and it's so-- I'm so grateful for that
because like-- Like it shows in the doc,
we went through many years of separation,
and it was really hard on both of us,
and right now we have an amazing, amazing relationship,
and my mom and I have an incredible relationship.
I do feel there's a lot of people kind of after the doc...
Going after my mom a bit.
But if you were in that situation at that time,
he was so good at what he was doing.
Brian, he was so calculated.
He knew exactly what to say, how to say it, what to do,
the image to portray, everything.
I mean, I completely understand
how he just... pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.
It's... It's tragic.
I want to ask you a little bit about your former co-star Josh
because people were... Were very hard on him
for what they perceived to be his reaction to your story.
Yeah, I just... I know what it's like to have,
you know, the internet attack you for...
I mean, really nothing.
He had reached out to me, and we-- We've been talking.
This is a really difficult thing to process.
But at the end of the day, you know,
we have such a close connection
and this unique bond, that's so rare in this industry that...
I don't know. It's really special,
and he's a really great person.
You have obviously been dealing with this trauma
for-- For more than two decades,
and I thought maybe we would show
a never-before-seen clip from your interview
about one of the ways that you've been dealing with this.
Can we play that?
A lot of times my emotions and my inner thoughts and...
What I-- What I'd been through would...
Would creep up and get in the way.
But luckily, I was writing songs
and expressed what I was feeling through music.
I think that was my therapy, really, at that time.
I see your guitar right behind you.
[laughing] So... Clearly.
Tell me a little bit about how music has been helping you
and has always, you know, been a platform for you.
Music's like my diary or my journal.
I... I've always written about my life
and after I did this doc, I started just writing even more and more and more
and stuff started pouring out.
And that's actually when I started--
When I wrote the new song I just put out
and the video that addresses the abuse
and other things that I've gone through in my life and the rehab,
and it's kind of the most vulnerable,
honest, self-reflective stuff that I've written ever.
♪ I kind of relate ♪
♪ I found beauty in pain ♪
♪ I'm running away ♪
♪ From the abuse And all the shame ♪
♪ Cause no one comes To my house anymore ♪
♪ No one knocks on my door ♪
Well, Drake, thanks for talking with us.
I really appreciate it.
I know... Maybe you don't know,
but so many people really need to hear what you had to say.
You talk a lot about being alone, being isolated,
and so I think what you're doing is really important.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Coming up next, we're joined in the studio
by two contributors from Quiet On Set
reunited to talk about their experience since the premiere.
Have you guys spoken to Dan since?
You know, recently in the last weeks?
[sighs] Yeah, I got a phone call.
Here with me now are a couple of faces
you'll recognize from the series.
Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne,
two cast members who spent multiple seasons
on All That in the early 2000s.
Welcome to you both.
So how has it been?
I mean, have you been surprised by the fallout from the documentary?
-Yeah. -Absolutely.
[both laugh]
Both of us had to kind of take a step back
from social media and whatnot because it's been...
The only way we can describe it is overwhelming.
In a good way? I mean support?
-Absolutely. -Yeah.
-There's been a lot-- -[Giovonnie Samuels] And on the flip side is...
People were like, "Yo, my childhood is now traumatized by this."
-Yeah. -"And I feel grieved that
-that you guys went through this... -Yeah.
...but I also feel trauma too."
And I'm like, I don't want you guys to feel that way.
Not all of it was terrible.
There are still some beautiful pieces left in it.
You know, we're okay.
Yeah, I think the-- The main... point
of us participating in this documentary
was to make sure that this doesn't continue.
Your former boss, Dan Schneider, posted a video defending himself.
He also apologized for his actions.
I am so sorry to any kid who ever had to do a dare or anything
that they didn't want to do or weren't comfortable doing.
We went out of our way to make sure they were safe
and that everything was done properly.
But if a kid was scared and didn't want to do it,
-kids shouldn't have to do it. -[man] Yeah.
-Period. The end. -[man] Right.
And if I had known at the time...
I would-- I would have changed it on the spot.
"If he had known at the time,
-he would have changed it on the spot." -[both snicker]
-Why are you both laughing? -[Hearne laughs]
The thing about his interview as a whole is, um,
-I just thought-- I thought it was funny. -[Samuels chuckles]
-What'd you think was funny about it? -[Hearne] If I'm--
If I could be candid, Dan was an actor before all of this.
And so I think that he brushed off some chops
and gave us a nice performance.
Where was all of this apologizing
when Jeanette McCurdy's book came out?
[Samuels] Or when Angelique Bates had said something?
-[Hearne] Yeah, very publicly. -[Samuels] Very publicly.
[Hearne] And I just feel that...
What's an apology without accountability?
Realistically, if you take the--
The inappropriate jokes away,
do you have a show... anymore?
Take all the foot jokes.
Take all the face shots,
all the-- All of that inappropriateness.
Is it just commercials then?
In this interview, Dan also said this.
All these jokes that you are speaking of...
That the show covered over the past two nights...
Every one of those jokes was written for a kid audience
because kids thought they were funny and only funny.
Okay?
Now we have some adults
looking back at them 20 years later through their lens,
and they're looking at them and they're saying,
"I don't think that's appropriate for a kid's show."
So back then,
did you think those jokes were funny to hear?
Did you think those jokes were funny to do?
No.
Only because one, we're kids.
We don't know. We're a bit naive.
And when you have a writer or a showrunner,
and he's laughing the hardest, you go along with it.
-Mmm. -[Samuels] Because one, you don't know any better,
and two... This is your job. This is your boss.
So when you were performing those jokes,
or even hearing your colleagues sort of saying those jokes,
did it just feel like this is not really for kids?
I mean, did you feel that when you were doing the show?
-There were jokes that was going over our heads. -Completely over our heads.
I'm 13 years old. I'm very new to like...
-Comedy, everything. -I'm not allowed to watch--
-Yeah. -I'm not allowed to watch South Park and Family Guy
and, you know, things of that nature.
I'm-- I'm sitting here just trying-- trying to be funny.
I'm just trying [chuckles] to be funny.
And with us coming in in the second round of All That,
we're looking to him because he's the creator of this.
He is the guy that made so many people big.
So you're trusting his judgment.
He seems to say, with the lens of now adults
all these years later look back and say,
"Oh, that looks like it's sexual,
that looks inappropriate."
Is he just utterly wrong?
It's one of those things.
The foot stuff was crazy.
[chuckles]
I never liked the foot stuff.
Never liked the foot stuff.
He thought the foot stuff was funny.
-You're like, "I'm a paid actor." -I don't get it.
-I'm going to execute on the foot stuff. -[both] Yeah.
And then you kind of look to your left...
And everybody in the room,
or at least the adults are laughing,
you go along with it.
Dan had this to say about diversity.
Diversity has always been very important
to me in my shows.
If you go back to the very first
Nickelodeon show I ever made, that's very evident,
as it is in the second one,
and then the first movie I ever made for Nickelodeon,
which starred Kenan and Kel,
and every show I did after that
had a lead Black actor in it.
So you were the only two Black actors on all that, right?
-Yes. -Yeah.
What do you think when he says that?
Oh, that's the sign here that's happening.
I don't know if you guys can hear this, the deep sign.
-[Bryan laughing] -[Giovonnie] Uh...
It was very evident from the first day.
It was just the two of us.
I've said this before on social media, you know,
that's usually the first thing you do in a Black space,
or as a Black person, or a person of color.
-Count the Black people. -Yeah,
You count who's in the room,
in front and behind the camera.
-And... there were two. -Two people.
-Four if you include our moms. -Yeah.
My gripe with the way that question was answered
is that the question itself was posed to him about us.
-Right. -It was about us.
He said, "Oh, I jump-started the careers of Kenan and Kel."
So they talked about us being overlooked,
and then he overlooked us in his answer.
[scoffs] What do you do with that?
Did you feel like you were stereotypes, tokenized roles?
[Giovonnie] Mmm-hmm.
Did you feel like that consistently
-while you were on the show? -Yes.
I was told, "You're so talented,
we don't know what to do with you.
Let's just kinda stick you anywhere, or..."
-Which was why I came up with sketches and ideas to help. -[Bryan] Yeah.
Have you guys spoken to Dan since?
Recently, in the last weeks?
Yeah, I got a phone call.
[O'Brien] Oh.
He reached out a week before the documentary aired.
[Bryan] Mmm.
He asked if I could give a quote of support.
He didn't know that you were in the--
-He knew I was in the documentary for a year. -He knew.
And he was like, "Oh, I love Gio.
She's great, she's nice, great.
She could tell my side,"
and I don't know what you want.
I don't know what possessed him.
So he asked you if you would give a quote of support.
And what did you say?
-He asked because I did come back to do Henry Danger, -Mmm-hmm.
which was sometime later.
He was like, "You had a good time on set, right?
Right?"
And you said?
I told him I was terrified of him.
Was he surprised by that?
[Giovonnie] I don't know.
I said, "You had the power to make people stars."
And I was intimidated by you.
I wanted to do a good job.
[O'Brien] Hmm.
The children of the next generation,
if our children should so decide one day to say,
"Put me in front of the camera."
Would you say yes?
As dad, today?
With my four-year-old and my 10-year-old?
-No. -Yeah.
-Absolutely not. -[O'Brien] Hmm.
We have a lot more to talk about.
Coming up, Bryan's mom, Tracey Brown, will join us
to talk about how Bryan's experience
on Dan's sets impacted her relationship with her son.
In that moment, I said I've lost him.
[O'Brien] You do right there.
[whispers] I lost him.
[sniffles]
So Bryan, in the series, we hear
a really heartbreaking story of when you're told
-you're not gonna be asked back. -Yeah.
And that day clearly had an impact on the relationship
you had with your mom.
Yeah.
[Tracey] The day that we were told [sniffles]
In that moment, he grew up and his body language showed it,
just showed this man protruding out.
And that's a man that didn't trust his mom anymore.
It ruined us.
And you can't get that...
like the moment you can't get back.
Oh, this was one of the most heartbreaking things to watch.
Joining us now is Bryan's mom, Tracey.
-It's nice to talk to you, Tracey. -Thank you.
In so many ways, it feels like Bryan's exit
was really pivotal, clearly, in your relationship. Um...
It sounds like you were trying to protect him
and do the right thing
and it came at a tremendous cost.
Can you explain that?
Yeah, I wasn't looking for my son to be this great star
and that's my dependency.
My dependency is raising a healthy child.
I'm a Leo, I don't know if that makes a difference
to any of you guys, I'm a lion, right?
I don't mind being in my cave and licking my nails,
but I have nails.
When you think when Bryan lost his job
that maybe it was you that you had brought this
-on him in some way? -I knew it.
[O'Brien] You knew you did?
I absolutely knew it.
When he got the news, he went to his agents
and they said, "Bring your mom up here."
And that's when we got the news and the funny part is
he was just 13, but he slunched over
and I saw a different soul come through.
And I said, in that moment I said, "I've lost him."
[O'Brien] You do right there.
[whispers] I lost him.
[sniffles]
Did you think your mom was responsible?
I think that, um, I'm trying not to cry.
[laughs]
-I've got a whole box of tissues here for both of you. -Oh, please, please.
So say the word.
[Bryan] It was like, well, whose fault is it?
Is it my fault?
Is it... You know, she's the outspoken one.
[laughs] You know?
And there were times where I was like,
"Oh, I'm not gonna say anything
because I don't want her to burn the place down,
and so I'm not gonna say anything here,
I'm not gonna say anything here."
And I would have.
Yeah.
How bad was your relationship? I mean, obviously at 13--
[Tracey] With my son?
[O'Brien] Yeah, how bad did it get?
[Tracey] It was ruined.
It wasn't, "And for six months I was really mad at my mom."
-No, it was all of his life. -All of it.
-Yeah. -All of... from 13 on.
Yeah.
You had a rift between you.
[Tracey] Yeah, he didn't trust me anymore, he was resentful.
He ran away from home.
Yeah.
So what brought you back together?
-Can I answer that? -Yeah.
The documentary.
-[Bryan] Hmm. -How?
It was a light bulb moment
to go back in time
and discover, as a mom, that moment ruined us.
Hmm.
-[Tracey] I still did not hope that you and I would talk. -Hmm.
And then I didn't know he had already seen the documentary
and Valentine's Day rolled around
and I sent...
[sniffles]
[whispers] "Happy Valentine's Day."
And he responded, "Happy Valentine's Day, mom."
[Bryan] So let me push it back a little bit.
So to be perfectly honest, watching that scene,
um, brought me to tears.
And first of all, I called my therapist immediately.
This was not on a therapy day.
[chuckles] Not on a therapy day.
[Bryan] My day is Tuesday.
I think I watched on a Monday and was like, "Oh, my God."
This was the spawn.
And we had that conversation, therapist to patient, client.
And it just, it changed everything
because I was able to pinpoint, "Oh, my gosh,
this is where my resentment started."
Oh, my gosh.
-I can talk to 13, 14 year old Bryan now and say, -Right.
"This wasn't your fault.
It wasn't her fault.
These people had it out for y'all."
[O'Brien] Hmm.
So there's a clip, it's never been seen before
of another Black actor who was featured in the series.
And I want to play that now.
There was a scene we were doing,
it was called, "The Literals."
And every time I said, "Spit it out,"
she would spit what was in her mouth,
whether it was the water or whatever,
like directly in my face.
Everybody thought it was so funny.
[mockingly] Ha-ha-ha. Everybody's laughing.
Me, I did not find it funny.
The third time I was like infuriated.
Like I was so mad that the director
hurried and put me on the side of the set
and was like, "Listen, Raquel,
breathe in, breathe out.
She's the star of the show."
He said, "Don't make too much of a problem.
I'm gonna ask her not to spit in your face,
but you have to keep your cool."
That's racist.
Period.
Wow.
Why is that so disturbing to you, Bryan?
I obviously did not know that story.
I've only had one solid conversation with Raquel,
but oh, my God, that hit me really hard.
She's...
To just be told you don't matter,
in that moment, you're being spit on.
And they say, this person matters more than you.
-[Tracey] 'Cause she's a star. -Take it.
[Tracey] Yeah.
And there's a cultural difference too, right?
-We are culturally trained to take it. -[Bryan] Hmm.
-They are not. -Hmm.
And imagine... so imagine that little girl saying,
"I don't wanna do that," right?
"I don't wanna do this."
What would happen?
So then what's your advice
for young Black actors now?
You know, it's hard because the one thing
I would say is that I was disappointed
there wasn't another Black boy on set.
That's important.
-The camaraderie is important, let alone the likeness. -Yeah.
And it's not even just Black, it's indigenous.
It's Hispanic.
You can't just have the one representing the whole world.
It doesn't make sense to me.
That was pressure.
-It's pressure. -For Gio and I.
Even having the privilege--
I mean to have one Black girl and one Black boy.
That was good.
For them to think that that was okay too.
-It's not. -Yeah.
-The pressure for each of us... -Yes.
...to represent was very hard.
So then what would you tell a young Black actor,
"Don't do it?"
-What would you say? -[Tracey] Today?
What advice would you give them today?
-Today? -Mmm-hmm.
-Do it, but if you have to walk away, do that. -Hmm.
-And I would say that to the moms and the dads. -Yeah, yeah.
-Pull your kid out. -Yeah.
Tracey, thank you for talking with me.
-I appreciate it, Bryan, you as well. -Thank you.
-Oh, no problem at all. -Absolutely.
So in our final segment, we meet a fellow,
All That cast member who's coming forward publicly
for the first time.
There were certainly some passes, you know.
-That he made on you. -Yeah.
Joining us now for an exclusive interview
is an actor from All That who's coming forward
for the first time.
Shane Lyons, thank you for being here today.
-Thanks for having me. -You bet.
So what was it like for you on the set?
[Shane] It was pretty dynamic.
And for someone who always wanted to be
a funny guy on television, you know,
I wouldn't say it was a dream come true,
but it seemed like a really great stepping stone.
I always wanted to be like Chris Farley
and be on Saturday Night Live.
So this felt like, "Okay, I'm gonna be doing that
in my future, and this is a great place to start."
And then was there a point where that shifted?
Yeah, they just fired me.
And I never learned why.
I was 16 and my contract wasn't picked up.
I think I'm sort of a unique case and really lucky,
in that my parents were chefs.
I knew that no matter what,
I can kind of follow in my mom's footsteps--
A lot of young actors don't have that.
Their dream is to do this show and then this show
and then bigger and bigger.
Right, and we're setting them up for failure.
We acknowledge that, "Oh, it's really hard
to go from a child actor into an adult actor."
Yes, okay, but what are we doing in the process
of a young actor who's on set?
What sort of continuing education are we providing them?
Why did you wanna come forward?
I think the only way we can change
is to really evaluate the past.
And I have some perspective to share on that
and I felt like it was important.
You were on the set with Brian Peck.
I was on the set with Brian Peck, yeah.
[O'Brien] Was he as charming as people would describe him?
-I mean-- -[Shane] 100%, 100%.
And we were enamored with, at least me personally,
that there is an adult who's also a cast member
who is someone that we knew
we could kind of run things by,
work with, improvise with.
It was very helpful in that context.
Since you knew Brian Peck,
-when you heard Drake's story, -Hmm.
what did you think?
I think it was very brave of him
to go on national television and say it.
And the specificity of what Brian did
was something nobody knew.
Uh, and it's absolutely gut-wrenching.
That poor kid, now man, it's gut-wrenching.
And I feel very blessed and lucky
that nothing like that happened to me.
There were certainly some passes, you know?
-That he made on you. -Yeah.
Did you realize at the time that they were passes?
No, when he asked me if I knew what blue balls was,
I thought they were racquetballs.
What did he say?
Some conversation was happening in the green room
and we get called to set and Brian follows behind me
and I'm kind of alone in the green room set
and he sits next to me and goes,
because previously in the conversation
they were talking about blue balls.
And I just didn't know what they were.
And he goes, "Well, we know what blue balls are, right, Shane?"
And I said, "Yeah, like racquetballs."
Right, I'm a kid, 13, 14.
You know, and as I think back now,
as an adult, as a 36 year old,
and I go, would I ever have a conversation
with a 13 year old boy like he had with me?
No, it makes absolutely zero sense
for a 13 year old girl or 13 year old anybody.
They're kids, why are you talking like that?
What would a protection for kids on the set,
since you were on the set, that makes sense,
that's doable, that's enforceable,
that could work, what does it look like?
So, updating the law first and foremost,
so that no individual who is a convicted child molester
can ever get on a Hollywood set again.
And currently there's a loophole in the law
that as long as there's a guardian or a parent
omnipresent on the set, they don't have to hire people
who go through a background check.
And I think more broadly,
when you have a cult of personality
in any work environment,
inevitably it's ripe for toxicity.
We get into their sphere and their orbit,
and no one wants to disrupt what's happening,
above or below.
Dan said he had many, many layers above him.
He had a boss and his boss had a boss
and his boss had a boss.
Well, it sounds like the farmer that blames the tractor
for the poor harvest, it's like, "Not me, man."
You shirk responsibility, it's pretty simple.
When you're not at a point in your life
to take ownership of the mistakes you made,
um, the first thing to do
is to shift the blame to someone else.
I think the lessons that hopefully the perpetrators
highlighted in this film can learn,
because that's ultimately what needs to happen
is them learning and everyone else learning too.
If they can't do that, then there's no chance
of them actually growing or changing or evolving.
It must feel good to have all your voices elevated
in this particular project,
and I would love to bring out your co-stars.
Giovonnie, why don't I put you here in the middle?
And Bryan, welcome back here.
Hi.
[O'Brien] It's nice to have you guys together.
[all laugh]
-I go for the fist and he gives the hand. -Knuckle sandwich.
Knuckle sandwich, all right.
[O'Brien] You did your interviews individually.
-You weren't in a big group together. -No.
So this has been a time for you guys to kind of like,
-do a little reunion. -[Giovonnie] Yeah.
These are the people I grew up with.
These are my brothers.
We have this special connection with each other,
and even if we don't see each other every day,
it's like we pick up where we left off.
You know, as soon as I saw Shane, I was like,
-my Papa Bear's back. -I'm Papa Bear.
Yes, like as soon as I saw Bryan,
-I was like my little bro, like no time has passed. -[Bryan] Yeah.
And it's just disheartening
-that it had to be this -Hmm.
that brought us back together again.
Have you all been just surprised
at the impact of this documentary?
Yes, I didn't know what to expect.
I had high hopes, but I wanna say that
I appreciate Emma and Mary so much for being real people.
[Shane] Hmm.
I've said before, these people approached us,
we didn't know who they were, so we were apprehensive.
And we definitely had our guard up, for sure.
But once we realized, yo, these people
care about the people, they care about the story,
-and they wanna get the truth out, -The truth out.
or you can visit online.rainn, R-A-I-N-N.org.
How about for you, Shane? Have you been surprised?
I think when something that's potentially explosive
always comes out, you sort of have this like...
[holds breath]
...moment of hold your breath,
is it what's gonna really happen?
And I am hoping that the impact sustains,
and it's not just a flash in the pan of the interest,
but there's real change that needs to occur.
And I'm hoping this is a first stepping stone for that.
I really want to thank you guys
for being part of this conversation,
really all the guests for being part of this conversation.
You are truly the heroes of this story,
and it requires a lot of bravery
to come forward and tell your story.
And when you don't know, you know,
what the impact is gonna be, what the fallout's gonna be,
so you should know you're really having
a hugely positive impact
on people who've been watching.
It's a big deal, and we appreciate it.
And in case you haven't had a chance to watch,
all four episodes are currently streaming on Max.
Thank you for joining us.
If you or someone you know has been affected
by sexual abuse, help is available 24-7
through the National Sexual Assault Hotline.
You can call 800-656-HOPE,
or you can visit online.rainn, R-A-I-N-N.org.