Kenan Thompson expressed his opinions about the revelations from Investigation Discovery’s documentary series “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” on Wednesday, stating he empathizes with any former child star who suffered abuse.
“I wasn’t really aware of a lot of it, but my heart goes out to anybody that’s been victimized or their families,” Thompson said on “Tamron Hall.”
Thompson, who is the longest-running “Saturday Night Live” star, first gained fame for his roles as one of the most popular Nickelodeon child actors, appearing in “All That,” “Kenan & Kel” and the network’s original film, “Good Burger.”
While discussing his career with Tamron Hall on her daytime talk show, the comedian also talked about the docuseries, which highlighted accusations of abusive and harmful behavior by long-time Nickelodeon producer and writer Dan Schneider, among others.
“It’s a difficult topic because I can’t really speak on things that I’ve never seen,” Thompson said. “You know what I’m saying? Because all these things happened after I left, basically, and Dan [Schneider] wasn’t really involved in ‘Kenan & Kel’ like that. I mean, he received a ‘created by’ credit, but it was a different showrunner. So, our worlds weren’t really intersecting outside of ‘All That,’ in a way. And then all that negativity started happening after our time there.”
The former child star added: “I think it’s a good thing that the documentary is out and it’s bringing to light things that need to be; stories that need to be told for accountability's sake. But it’s definitely tough to watch because I have fond memories of that place and I have fond memories of my costars and stuff like that. So to hear that they’ve gone through terrible things like that, it’s really tough.”
The four-part documentary, which has been extended to include an extra fifth episode, aired for two nights on March 17 and 18 on ID. “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” is now available to stream on Max.
Watch the full interview with Thompson and Hall, below.
