Ahead of the release of "Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Children's Television," a conspiracy theory has been circulating suggesting that Nickelodeon's name has a hidden (and sinister) meaning.
Dan Schneider built a children's TV empire in the '90s and '00s with a slew of Nickelodeon hit shows including "Drake & Josh," "The Amanda Show," "Zoey 101," "Eka" "Li" and "Victory") won the gold medal.
Fast forward to 2018, and he was kicked off the channel over alleged abusive behavior. Now, a new documentary series called Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Children's Television will delve deeper into the allegations while examining the crimes of convicted sex offender Brian Peck.
Ahead of the release of the true-crime series, a slew of revelations have surfaced, sparking heated debate and conspiracy theories surrounding Nickelodeon's name.
Conspiracy theorists believe Nickelodeon has a hidden meaning
Amid news that some child sex abusers had worked for Nickelodeon, some social media users pointed out that when you type "nic kelo deo" into Google Translate, it means "I don't care about God." Latin.
Essentially, the conspiracy theory is that the kids' TV channel deliberately chose a name with a subliminal message - not too dissimilar to the "prediction show" speculation surrounding "Leave the World Behind."
This ties into the broader theory that Hollywood is run by a satanic elite, an idea pushed by groups like QAnon — something we explored in our deep dive into the Free Speaks controversy.
One netizen wrote on To write, it must be "nic kelo deo" in lower case.
"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,' it means ' I don't believe in God. I don't know what that means, but it's weird."
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However, as the first commenter emphasized, the translation looks very different if the first letter is capitalized. It doesn’t say “I don’t care about God,” it says “God bless you.”
Another flaw with this theory is that we already know the real meaning behind the name - Nickelodeon refers to the first five-cent movie theaters called Nickelodeons.
The Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Children TV show premieres Sunday, March 17 and Monday, March 18 on ID from 9pm-11pm ET/PT. The show is also available on Max and you can sign up to watch it here . For more true crime and documentaries coming out this month, head here.
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