Keke Palmer’s Mother Says Dan Schneider’s Sets Were ‘Very Weird’ and ‘Cultish’: ‘The Parents Were Secretive’ and ‘Took Themselves Way Too Seriously’

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Keke Palmer recently welcomed her mother, Sharon, onto the “Baby, This Is Keke Palmer” podcast, where the two reminisced on “Quiet on Set” and Palmer’s own history as a child actor at Nickelodeon.

Palmer starred in the lead role of the network’s “True Jackson, VP,” which ran for 56 episodes from 2008 to 2011. While the show was not created by Dan Schneider, who was accused of misconduct at Nickelodeon by several actors and writers in “Quiet on Set,” Sharon said she still felt his uncomfortable atmosphere whenever she was on the studio lot with her daughter. “I honestly do remember you having a lot to say about the Dan Schneider sets,” Keke Palmer told her mother during the podcast. “I remember you feeling a way about Nickelodeon.” “My honest opinion is I thought the whole atmosphere of the Dan Schneider set was very weird, very cultish,” Sharon responded. “The parents were very secretive, and I honestly thought they all took themselves way too seriously.” “I always looked at you being at Nickelodeon as being a stopping station,” Sharon continued, noting that Keke was already an established actor with a movie career under her belt when she made the jump to Nickelodeon star. “You didn’t get your start on Nickelodeon or Disney.

You were blessed and fortunate enough to work in adult situations and kid situations. My mentality about the entertainment business wasn’t that Disney Channel or Nickelodeon was the end all to be all, but a lot of the parents did.” Keke and Sharon also discussed Drake Bell, who was sexually abused by Nickelodeon acting coach Brian Peck when Bell was a teen actor at the network.