Previous All child star Bryan Hearne reflects on his experience working as one of the few black actors on Nickelodeon’s sketch comedy, ahead of the release of a new docu-series.
Investigation Discovery’s four-part documentaries Silence on set: The dark side of children’s TV, premiere on March 17, reveals the price many actors said they paid for working long hours in an emotionally manipulative and sometimes sexually charged environment.
In this week’s issue of PEOPLE, Hearne, who is one of many former Nickelodeon child actors appearing in upcoming docuseries, cringes at the memory of being cast in racially stereotypical roles as a teenage “drug dealer” and rapper, who is still haunted by his work. on Nickelodeon in the early 2000s.
“They called me a ‘piece of coal’ [by an adult]”, he recalls. “Such remarks are harmful. They stay with you.”
Referring to All Sketch where he played a rapper named “Lil Fetus,” Hearne, 35, adds: “I’ve been in an awkward position in a leotard before. It’s not something I’m used to at all.”
Hearne was a member of the cast All for seasons 7 and 8, the first of which premiered in 2002. The series, one of more than a dozen TV shows created by Dan Schneider from the 1990s to 2010s, first aired on Nickelodeon in 1994. In the early 2000s, Dare on the airapparently a children’s version of Fear Factor, it was created with some All cast members, who would be every week placed in a glass cylinder and one would be randomly selected to participate in the challenge.
“There was never an argument,” Hearne says of his experience as a 13-year-old actor performing humiliating stunts — including one in which he was covered in peanut butter to be licked by dogs — on the gross out game show.
For more on the allegedly toxic environment on the sets of Nickelodeon shows, subscribe to PEOPLE now or pick up this week’s issue on newsstands Friday.
“We felt like we couldn’t say no,” adds Hearne. “It was a really uncomfortable situation, and after a while it felt like we were just part of this torture chamber.”
Hearne went on to address his time at the network, telling PEOPLE that he felt like he was treated differently than other non-black child actors and that his relationship with Schneider — who left Nickelodeon in 2018 after an internal investigation into his to the alleged verbal statement abusive and demanding behavior on the set — was “non-existent”.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Schneider’s spokesperson said, “Nothing has been said about Dan other than that he was a strict boss who got into disagreements with other adult executives at Nickelodeon and when Dan left Nickelodeon, there was a full investigation and again, that’s everything they found.”
Hearne also credits his longtime friendship with All alum Giovonnie Samuels who helped him deal with that time.
Bryan Hearne (left) and Giovonnie Samuels.
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage; Amy Graves/WireImage
“That was the highlight of my day, knowing she was going to be there,” Hearne adds of Samuels, who was a cast member of the sketch comedy series from seasons 7 to 9.
All Nickelodeon stars had to say about the alleged ‘toxic environment’ on set
Samuels shared the same sentiment, recently telling PEOPLE, “I didn’t realize the importance of the impact I had on people because they were the only representation they had on television and going through, I hate to call it a traumatic relationship, but at least having someone there for me with whom I could talk, not only as a child actor, but also culturally.”
Samuels got the part All in 2002, and in this week’s issue of PEOPLE, she says that at the time it seemed like a dream come true for the 16-year-old. But she says her on-set experiences — like being the only black actress not given a hairstylist or being trained to avoid choking during a skit that required drinking enormous amounts of fake coffee sugar and felt like ” waterboarding” – was often traumatic.
“You learn to walk that fine line,” says Samuels, now 38, who called herself and Hearne “the two token black kids” at the time.
“You always ask yourself, ‘Am I speaking loudly?’ And if I speak up, will I lose my job? Or will I just let it go?”
Samuels says she also had no relationship with Schneider.
“Dan Schneider was that guy who could, if he liked you, get a spinoff, get another show,” she tells PEOPLE. “I understood that worship and I guess I stayed away from it.”
In a statement to PEOPLE regarding the alleged behavior on past production sets, Nickelodeon said, “While we cannot confirm or deny allegations of behavior from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all official complaints as part of our commitment to fostering safety and professional a workplace environment free from harassment or other types of inappropriate behavior.”
The statement continued: “Our highest priorities are the welfare and best interests of not only our employees, cast and crew, but all children, and over the years we have adopted a number of safeguards to ensure we live up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
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One of the most shocking discoveries in documentary series is the presence of sexual predators on the set. In 2004, production assistant Jason Handy, 30, was sentenced to six years in prison for sexual crimes against minors, including an 11-year-old actress on The Amanda Show. For the first time, Drake Bell, former star Drake & Joshtells how dialogue coach Brian Peck (no relation to Bell’s co-star Josh Peck) repeatedly abused him when Bell was 15 and invited him to his house for acting lessons.
Nickelodeon Dialogue coach sexually assaulted actor Drake Bell: ‘It was extensive and brutal’
The former child stars told PEOPLE that they were unaware of the sexual abuse that both Handy and Peck were involved in, and Hearne said, “to be apart of that environment and realize that it was dangerous is mind-blowing.”
Samuels adds, “We work 12 to 13 hours a day and when you’re there for a few seasons, you get comfortable and let your guard down, but then again, you’re also a kid or a teenager where looking at an adult like this is acceptable behavior, and it’s not.”
Today, Samuels, who also appeared in films Get involved: all or nothing and Freedom writers, gives acting lessons and consults with parents of child actors on what to look out for in the industry. He also plans to make his debut Podcast Tokens this year, where he talks in more detail about his personal experience and interviews other black “token” child stars.
Similarly, Hearne works with parents of young creatives through his nonprofit, the Urban Poets Society, to help them “pursue their craft and support it in a way that I wasn’t supported.”
“I never had [someone] on set, on any set, that advocated for my mental health or stood up for me in any area,” he tells PEOPLE, adding that therapy has been an important part of his healing process.
When asked what he hopes viewers will take away from the docu-series, Samuels says, “this dream costs money and shouldn’t be for kids like [much] as it does.”
“We need better laws to protect our children on set. I really hope that people who watch this will do better and not look at children as just a paycheck.”
Silence on set: The dark side of children’s televisionwill air over two nights on ID from 9:00-11:00 PM ET/PT, March 17th and 18th.
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