Steve Burns, the Blue’s Clues host, is weighing in on the docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, in which Drake Bell revealed he was sexually abused by former Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck.
In a recent interview, Burns shared his thoughts on the ID docuseries.
“I don’t have any particular insight into any of that,” the former Nick Jr. star told Today. “I’m coming to it much the same as anyone else, with horror and heartbreak. It’s just terrible to watch it unfold. I don’t know what else to say, other than that it’s heartbreaking.”
He continued, “It’s got to be so unfathomably painful. The fact that this is now what everyone’s talking about at the watercooler, it just breaks my heart.”
Burns recently went viral on TikTok after posting one of his regular “check-in” videos shortly after the ID docuseries premiered. The actor was the original host of Blue’s Clues when the show premiered in 1996 and remained the presenter until he left in 2002.
In the same interview, Burns noted that Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon operated separately.
“Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon [programming] were so different,” he said. “We’re in New York, they’re in L.A. There’s no overlap whatsoever between any of those shows and what we were doing.”
Following the documentary, Nickelodeon released a statement saying, “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct.”