A resurfaced video gained new notoriety after an X user revealed that the woman who told LaBelle that “paper was bad” during a 2008 taping of “The Tyra Banks Show” is the wife of Dan Schneider, the disgraced Nickelodeon producer and central character in the new headline-grabbing documentary, “Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.”
The scene is notorious to Patti LaBelle lovers. The Philadelphia songbird, who has sold 50 million records worldwide and been an international star for over seven decades, was about to slap the bejeezus out of a celebrity baker, Lisa Lillien.
In December 2008, the “Lady Marmalade” singer appeared on the popular talk show and, because of her cooking and baking prowess, was asked to hang out for a tasting segment with actress and cupcake chef Lisa Lillien.
In the clip, Auntie Patti lifts one of the cupcakes and says, “This has paper on it,” before she smells it.
Lillien quips, “You can’t eat the paper.”
“Nope,” the appalled Grammy winner said, playing it off for the camera by saying. “But you can touch it with your hands.”
“That is true,” said Lillien as she goes on to explain the two types of cake mix that she uses.
While she speaks, Patti rolls her eyes and makes funny faces at the audacity of the chef to assume she’d eat the cupcake paper. “Eat the paper? Girl,” said LaBelle in a stunned tone.
Tyra Banks joined in the fun and asked, “What is Patti saying over there?”
Lillien turns to the veteran vocalist and gets gobsmacked with the question everyone is just waiting for Patti to ask, “What makes you think I can eat the paper, boo?”
Instead of answering, Lillien responded to LaBelle as if she were a child. “Because you can’t eat the paper. No paper. Paper bad; cake good. You’re the one that asked me to eat the paper,” she said in a condescending tone.
Baffled that the woman still didn’t get it, LaBelle turned to the crowd and asked, “What’s wrong with her?”
In 2023, while appearing on another talk show, “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” LaBelle expressed was furious with the chef during the segment.
Miss Patti talking about the cupcake incident on Jennifer Hudson’s show last year 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Oj2kl0F2xw
— yellow potato salad enthusiast (@qkfman) March 22, 2024
She told Hudson, “The girl thought I was gonna eat the paper on the cupcake. The way I wanted to slap that heifer so hard. She said, ‘Miss LaBelle, don’t eat the paper. I said, ‘What’s wrong with you, boo? I don’t eat paper.’”
With Lillien’s husband in the news, the clip has gained new life, and more people on social media have weighed in on the debacle that aired over a decade ago.
“Making the connection that Dan Schneider’s wife is the same one who tried Patti LaBelle about ‘paper bad, cupcake good’ on Tyra’s show makes so much sense to me. I’m so glad Patti checked her in real time,” a person posted.
“Two NASTY and ROTTED spirits,” they continued.
Friendly reminder that Dan Schneider’s wife is the white lady who said “paper bad, cupcake good” to Patti LaBelle on the Tyra Show pic.twitter.com/55RUhmGx8a
— yellow potato salad enthusiast (@qkfman) March 22, 2024
Another person tweeted, “Patti was a second away from turning her into a Patti pie.”
Patti after knocking that heiffa out pic.twitter.com/6yEf4p6K8Z
— Chrissy the Bull (@ChrissyTheBull) March 23, 2024
While Lillien, who has been married to Dan Schneider since 2002, was central to “Papergate,” she was not mentioned alongside her husband in the Nickelodeon documentary.
Several of the young stars from the children’s network have spoken out about the trauma, exploitation, pedophilia and emotional abuse that they experienced working in the ’90s and 2000s.
Bryan Hearne, Giovonnie Samuels, and Drake Bell are a few actors who have come out in support of the outrageous accusations in the documentary.
Others are bashing the docuseries, claiming that the parents of the children who were abused during their time on set should have taken better care of their young stars. The loudest voice is Angel Massey, the mother of “Zoey 101” star Chris Massey and “That’s So Raven” star Kyle Massey.
She took to social media and wrote, “Dan Schneider, You are awesome. You are a genius. I can’t thank this guy enough for the opportunity he gave my son @chrismasseytmb and my family. Blame the parents, not Dan.”
Her son Chris, 34, also spoke out online, asking people not to contact him about his mother’s position. Meanwhile, Kyle, 32, appears to have not posted on his Instagram page since 2022. Chris most recently shared a photo of himself with his brother Kyle, their mom Angel, and their grandfather.