by WorldTribune Staff, March 29, 2024
Nickelodeon, the cable network which produced a number of popular shows featuring child actors, was infiltrated by pedophiles, according to court records and a new HBO documentary about child abuse at the network.
The HBO documentary “Quiet on Set: the Dark Side of Kids TV” details the conviction of former Nickelodeon dialogue coach and actor Brian Peck, who molested child star Drake Bell when Bell was 15.
Peck went on to work at Disney after his conviction.
Bell himself was later convicted of distributing child porn, after allegations emerged that he groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old.
Other child molesters hired by Nickelodeon include Jason Handy, a production assistant who had sexual contact with a nine-year-old girl; and Ezell Channel, hired as a production assistant at the cable channel after a child sex offense conviction, then arrested for sexually assaulting an underage teen at the studio.
Marty Weiss, a talent manager who placed clients on top Nickelodeon shows, was later convicted for “lewd acts” with a 12-year-old male client.
Cody Longo, late star of TeenNick 2012 show Hollywood Heights, was accused of sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl in Colorado in 2019 and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge two years later.
In the 2014 documentary “An Open Secret”, Gabe Hoffman, a child safety activist, exposed child molesters who worked at Nickelodeon and other Hollywood studios.
Hoffman told DailyMail.com the problem persists: ‘Convicted pedophiles still get hired in Hollywood today. Sex offenders worked with children at Nickelodeon, and unless the industry makes changes, more children in Hollywood will end up getting abused.”
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Ezell Channel, 54, was convicted in 2003 for “lewd acts” with a child under 14. He was released on probation less than two years later, and hired as a production assistant at Nickelodeon despite his conviction. A mother reported him to police in 2005 after he started spending time with her teenage son and she found him on the Megan’s Law sex offender registry website.
Prosecutors accused Channel of luring a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old into the studio, showing them pornography and inappropriately touching them in November 2005. He was convicted again, but released in 2010 according to Megan’s Law data. The site says he is now homeless, living in Los Angeles.
In 2012, the California legislature passed a law to stop convicted pedophiles working with child actors by requiring background checks and permits.
Hoffman told DailyMail.com that those regulations are being flouted: “Investigations have demonstrated this important law is mostly ignored by Hollywood, and state and local law enforcement appear to have little interest in enforcing it.”
A Nickelodeon spokesperson told DailyMail.com: “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct.”
Report: Nickelodeon hired convicted pedophiles; Hollywood problem persists added by Editor Two on
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