NEW YORK – In response to disturbing abuse claims made in the new ID docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Nickelodeon CEO Brian Robbins announced that effectively immediately, all future “Take a Pedophile to Work Days” will be shelved.
“We are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma alleged in this new documentary,” said Robbins very carefully, surrounded by his legal representatives. “We want the public and more importantly our advertisers to know that such abuses will never happen again because we’ve decided, almost unanimously, to get rid of our controversial ‘Take a Pedophile to Work Day.’”
The move was welcomed by some, but others felt the communications and roll out were sloppy.
“It could have been handled better,” one insider said under condition of anonymity. “At least give people a few days to prepare for the change, not just an email saying you’ve been kicked off the company slack and won’t be invited back for future days.”
Parent Colleen Williams, whose kids had a casting call for a new show on the network, gave her opinion on the matter.
“I’m happy that they’re getting rid of it and honestly I don’t think they should have ever had it in the first place,” Williams said. “It’s disappointing, but it’s also comforting to know that there’s still a lot of good people here who worked with Dan Schneider and Brian Peck who had no clue about what was going on literally right in front of their faces.”
HR Expert Holly Franklin described how companies use different methods to boost morale.
“Every workplace tries to engage staff in different ways,” described Franklin. “I’ve never heard of a company going this far, but it seems like a lot of the content was almost exclusively created for that audience so you might as well have the experts there.”
At press time documentary filmmakers were recommending parents get their kids into a safer industry like amateur stunt work or maybe roofing.
