A choose has allowed showrunner Dan Schneider to proceed together with his defamation lawsuit over the documentary “Quiet on Set,” which delved into sexual misconduct at Nickelodeon.

Schneider, the creator of quite a few Nickelodeon exhibits throughout twenty years, referred to as the documentary a “hit job,” saying it falsely urged both that he was a sexual abuser or was conscious that two sexual abusers had been employed on his exhibits.

In a ruling issued Friday, Decide Ashfaq G. Chowdhury discovered that Schneider’s claims are usually not frivolous, and {that a} “cheap viewer” may conclude that the documentary makes “damning implications about his conduct.”

The choose denied a movement filed by attorneys for Warner Bros. and Sony, which had sought to throw out the swimsuit beneath the state anti-SLAPP statute, which bars litigation meant to sit back speech on issues of public concern. They argued that the documentary didn’t truly accuse Schneider of sexual abuse.

Chowdhury wrote that Schneider’s attorneys had argued “persuasively that defamation might be implied, that the trailer and documentary state or suggest Schneider sexually abused kids who labored on his present and that Schneider was a toddler sexual abuser.”

“Quiet on Set: The Darkish Aspect of Children TV” was launched in March on Investigation Discovery and Max. It drew on a 2022 Enterprise Insider piece, which reported that Schneider engaged in risky and bullying habits on set, and that he created a “maddening, disgusting, controlling little bubble,” within the phrases of 1 former author.

Some former staffers additionally complained of overly sexualized materials, which they discovered inappropriate for younger audiences.

Nickelodeon minimize ties with Schneider in 2018 after an inside investigation into verbal abuse. The investigation discovered no proof of sexual misconduct between Schneider and any youngster actors. Schneider has repeatedly denied most of the allegations, although he has additionally apologized for making folks really feel uncomfortable and for asking for neck massages on set.

The documentary delved into the circumstances of Brian Peck, a former dialogue coach on “The Amanda Present,” and Jason Useful, a former manufacturing assistant. Each have been later prosecuted for youngster intercourse abuse.

Within the lawsuit, Schneider alleged that the collection juxtaposed him with each males, implying that he, too, is a sexual abuser or was indirectly answerable for their conduct. Even with out accusing Schneider of sexual abuse, the swimsuit alleged that the present created a “defamatory implication.”

Attorneys for Warner Bros. and Sony, which distributed and produced the present, argued that Schneider was distorting what the documentary truly mentioned, and that nowhere was Schneider accused of partaking in sexual abuse.

“The First Modification prohibits stretching and extrapolating a broadcast’s content material far past what was truly reported in an effort to discover it unfaithful,” the attorneys wrote.

The choose initially indicated that he would facet with the protection, discovering that Schneider had failed to point out that something within the documentary was truly incorrect.

“Plaintiff right here didn’t submit any proof as to the falsity of the alleged defamation,” the choose wrote in an earlier tentative ruling.

Schneider’s attorneys addressed the choose’s concern by submitting a declaration on Schneider’s behalf, wherein the showrunner affirmed that he had “by no means sexually assaulted or sexually abused a toddler.”

“I’ve by no means accomplished any of those horrific acts,” Schneider continued. “Any assertion or implication that I did so is fake, and I’ll testify at trial that any such assertion or implication is fake.”

That was ample for the choose to permit the litigation to proceed to the subsequent part.