Kenan Thompson Speaks Out About Amanda Bynes Amid ‘Quiet On Set’ Revelations
Kenan Thompson has been sharing his thoughts on the revelations from the Quiet On Set docuseries and his relationship with former Nickelodeon co-star Amanda Bynes.
The Saturday Night Live star appeared on the Tamron Hall Show on Wednesday, March 27, where he was asked about his relationship with Bynes.
“I unfortunately haven’t spoken to Amanda since she was really, really young,” Thompson said. “Like when she was doing her first movies. I think the soccer movie [She’s the Man] was around that time, was the last time I actually saw her. I’m just rooting for her from afar.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, Thompson also wrote about Bynes in his recent memoir, When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice From a Professional Clown.
“She was adorable and had a ginormous range of talent,” Thompson wrote. “She was the best, man; we were very close. She was like all of our little sister, and we were all very protective of her… but now she was starting to grow up, and it’s like when parents don’t have a kid in diapers anymore, and they’re like, What’s happening? Let’s have another baby! When Amanda came in, we got a new wee one to nurture and spoil. We had to watch out for our little ones.”
He also described her as “the sweetest, happiest girl,” adding, “Unfortunately, some leeches sent her down a dark path. When she went left for a little while, we all were sad. I cared about her, and I still do. She’s good people.”
Thompson’s comments come amid Investigation Discovery’s docuseries Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which documents children’s television shows from the late 1990s and early 2000s, with former child stars speaking out about their alleged experiences of abuse, sexism, and racism.
All That cast; Tollin/Robbins Prod. / Courtesy: Everett Collection
“It’s tough. It’s a tough subject, you know?” Thompson told Hall. “It’s tough for me because I can’t really speak on things that I never witnessed, you know what I’m saying? Because all these things happened after I left, basically.”
Thompson was an original cast member of Nickelodeon’s sketch comedy series All That, which also starred Bynes, and later co-starred with Kel Mitchell on the Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan & Kel.
In the doc, former child actors have made claims of sexual abuse against assistant Jason Handy, dialogue coach Brian Peck, and studio freelancer Ezel Channel, as well alleged abusive, toxic, and misogynistic behavior of producer Dan Schneider.
“Dan wasn’t really on Kenan & Kel like that,” Thompson shared. “I mean, he got a ‘created by’ credit, but it was a different showrunner, so our worlds wasn’t really overly overlapping like that outside of All That, necessarily. And then all of that negativity kinda started happening outside of our tenure there, you know what I mean? So I wasn’t really aware of a lot of it.”
Schneider didn’t just have a creator credit for Kenan & Kel, he was also credited as co-executive producer across the first two seasons and had writing credits on 11 episodes.
“My heart goes out to anybody that’s been victimized, or their families,” Thompson added. “I think it’s a good thing that the doc is out and it’s putting things on display, 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 is really tough.”
He concluded, “Investigate more… It’s supposed to be a safe place for kids. And to hear all about that is just like, ‘How dare you?’”
Quiet on Set: Breaking the Silence, April 7, 8/7c, ID
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV where to stream
