The Nickelodeon children’s TV channel employed or worked with five convicted child molesters and two other accused pedophiles, according to court records and news reports reviewed by the Daily Mail. At least one of the abusers was hired despite offending before he joined the Paramount-owned American network.
Three of the convicted molesters were profiled in a new HBO documentary series on pedophilia and abuse in the kids’ entertainment industry. One of them, acting coach Brian Peck, molested Nickelodeon star Drake Bell, served 16 months in prison, and went on to work with the Disney Channel, before executives found out about his conviction.
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The other, production assistant Jason Handy, worked for alleged abuser Dan Schneider at the network during the late 1990s. Handy was jailed in 2004 for sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl, and for possession of tens of thousands of images of child pornography. When police raided his Los Angeles home, they found a diary in which he described himself as a “pedophile, full blown.”
Ezell Channel worked as an animator at Nickelodeon, until he was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2009 for molesting a 14-year-old boy on set. He was also accused of luring two teenage boys to his workplace, showing them pornography, and inappropriately touching them. Channel had allegedly been hired by the network despite an earlier conviction for child sex abuse.
The two other convicted sex offenders were identified by the Daily Mail as talent agent Marty Weiss, who committed “lewd acts” with a preteen client, and teen star Cody Longo, who pleaded guilty to molesting a nine-year-old girl in 2021.
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The other, production assistant Jason Handy, worked for alleged abuser Dan Schneider at the network during the late 1990s. Handy was jailed in 2004 for sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl, and for possession of tens of thousands of images of child pornography. When police raided his Los Angeles home, they found a diary in which he described himself as a “pedophile, full blown.”
Ezell Channel worked as an animator at Nickelodeon, until he was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2009 for molesting a 14-year-old boy on set. He was also accused of luring two teenage boys to his workplace, showing them pornography, and inappropriately touching them. Channel had allegedly been hired by the network despite an earlier conviction for child sex abuse.
The two other convicted sex offenders were identified by the Daily Mail as talent agent Marty Weiss, who committed “lewd acts” with a preteen client, and teen star Cody Longo, who pleaded guilty to molesting a nine-year-old girl in 2021.