Quiet on Set: Conspiracy theorists think Nickelodeon has hidden meaning

Ahead of the release of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, a conspiracy theory has been doing the rounds suggesting that Nickelodeon’s name has a hidden (and sinister) meaning. 

Dan Schneider created a kids TV empire, having struck gold in the 90s and 00s with a plethora of hit shows for Nickelodeon including Drake & Josh, The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, iCarly, and Victorious. 

Fast forward to 2018, and he was dropped by the channel amid complaints of alleged abusive behavior. Now, a new documentary series titled Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV is set to delve into these allegations, while looking at the crimes of convicted sex offender Brian Peck. 

Numerous revelations have emerged ahead of the true crime series’ release, sparking a busy discussion – and a conspiracy theory has come to the fore relating to Nickelodeon’s name. 

Conspiracy theorists think Nickelodeon has hidden meaning

Amid the news that a number of child sex abusers used to work for Nickelodeon, a number of social media users have pointed out that when you type “nic kelo deo” into Google Translate, it means “I don’t care about God” in Latin. 

Essentially, the conspiracy theory is that the kid’s TV channel purposely picked a name with subliminal messaging in mind – not too dissimilar from the “predictive programming” speculation surrounding Leave the World Behind. 

This ties to the wider theory that Hollywood is run by Satanic elites, an idea pedaled by groups such as QAnon – which we explored in our deep dive into the Sound of Freedom controversies. 

Taking to X, one person wrote: “If you want to indoctrinate a nation and control it, start with their kids. You can test this using Google Translate, set the language to Latin, and write it exactly this way, it must be lowercase ‘nic kelo deo’.”

“Nic kelo deo, you can run but you can’t hide,” said another, while a third added, “Fun fact: Nickelodeon, if you change it to ‘nic kelo deo’, means ‘I don’t believe in God’. I don’t know what that means but it’s strange.”

As highlighted by the first commenter, however, the translation looks very different if you capitalize the first letter. Instead of, “I don’t care about God,” it says, “God bless you.” 

Another flaw in this theory is that we already know the real meaning behind the name – Nickelodeon is a reference to the first five-cent movie theaters called Nickelodeons.

Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV premieres across two nights on ID from 9pm-11pm ET/PT on Sunday, March 17 and Monday, March 18. It will also be available for streaming on Max, which you can sign up for here. And for more upcoming true crime and documentaries this month, head here. 

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