Drake Bell slammed celebrities who wrote letters of support to sexual abuser Brian Peck, claiming no one had yet approached him personally to apologize, before making a surprising defense of “abuser” Dan Schneider.
Documentary Quiet On Set sparked widespread furor upon its release earlier this month after exposing the underbelly of children’s television, but has now aired a final episode packed with even more shocking claims from the former cast and crew.
The original four-part exposé on Nickelodeon promised to “pull back the curtain on an empire, built by creator Dan Schneider, who had undeniable control over popular culture” in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The biggest bombshells to come out of the program included accusations that Schneider had “degraded” staff. before being sued over allegations of gender discrimination, hostile work environment and harassment.
Drake Bell slammed celebrities who wrote letters of support for sexual abuser Brian Peck, claiming no one has yet contacted him personally, before making a surprising defense of ‘abuser’ Dan Schneider.
The former Drake & Josh star, now 37, has spoken out again in the latest installment of the docu-series, titled Breaking The Silence, to unravel even more shocking claims.
His reputation was also tarnished by claims that he wrote “awkward sketches” that “sexualized” child actors, including Ariana Grande, something he has since denied in an apology interview aired since the documentary’s release.
Elsewhere, spectators were stunned to learn that thThere were three Nickelodeon employees who sexually abused children, including speech coach Brian Peck, who was sentenced to prison after committing sexual acts with a minor.
It was then revealed for the first time that the minor involved was actually Drake Bell, who came forward to detail his horrific abuse.
The former child star, now 37, has spoken out again in the latest installment of the documentary series, titled Breaking The Silence, to make even more shocking claims.
Drake criticizes celebrities who wrote letters of support to abuser Brian Peck, claiming that no one had contacted him yet
Drake Bell returned in the latest installment of the Quiet On Set documentary series to tell host Soledad O’Brien what had motivated him. participate in the exhibition after so many years.
‘The decision to participate was difficult. “It was a very difficult decision to make because they had contacted me before and I wasn’t prepared and I said no,” he shared.
But he said the Quiet on Set documentary staff reached out and made him “feel really comfortable.”
“I could feel like I could open up… I just felt like maybe this was the time to tell my story.”
In previous episodes, there was exposed the abuse she suffered at the hands of Brian Peck, describing them as “unspeakable acts.”
‘The abuse was extensive and became quite brutal. “I don’t really know how to explain that on camera,” he explained in a previous episode.
In previous episodes, she had laid bare the abuse she suffered at the hands of Brian Peck, describing it as “unspeakable acts.”
Peck was arrested and charged with nearly a dozen counts related to allegations that he had sexually abused a then-unnamed minor in August 2003.
‘Why don’t you do this? Think about the worst things someone can do to someone like sexual assault and that will answer your question. I don’t know how else to say it.
Peck He was arrested and charged with nearly a dozen counts related to allegations that he had sexually abused a then-unnamed minor in August 2003.
He later pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14 or 15-year-old boy and to oral copulation with a 16-year-old minor.
Drake had previously said he was disappointed to see so many notable names show up in court to support Peck during the sentencing, including actors Will Friedle, 47, and Rider Strong, 44, plus a total of 41 other people. they wrote letters. to the judge on behalf of the abuser.
Following the release of the documentary, Will and Rider, who were cast members of Boy Meets World, spoke about the situation on their podcast.
Will said: ‘[Brian] then he asked us to support him and go to court with him, which many of us did and we are sitting in that courtroom on the wrong side of everything…
“The victim’s mother turned around and said, ‘Look at all the celebrities you brought with you and that doesn’t change what you did to my son.’
Drake had previously said he was disappointed to see so many notable names appear in court to support Peck during the sentencing, including actors Will Friedle (left) and Rider Strong (right).
And I sat there wanting to die. It was like, “what the hell am I doing here?”
Reflecting on Will’s comments, Soledad asked Drake if the recognition changed his thinking about that day in court.
He answered frankly: ‘No. I worked with Will on Spider-Man and there were many opportunities to apologize or talk about it and I never did.
“But it’s also a very difficult topic to address, especially in the work environment.”
Drake continued: ‘The difficult thing about all of this is that everyone deals with their trauma in different ways.
‘Everyone comes to different conclusions at different times in their lives and achievements.
‘I really appreciate your perspective now, but that day is so etched in my mind and there are so many people that… no one has reached out to me.
“No one who wrote one of those letters has contacted me.”
Drake said he is “baffled” that the abuse wasn’t a bigger scandal at the time given that there was more than one predator working at Nickelodeon.
Referring to production assistant Jason Handy, who housed a “huge trove of child pornography” that included more than 10,000 images of children, he continued: “For those two cases to occur so close together on the same network and on the same show, it allowed him go work on other programs, go work on other children’s programs, other children’s networks as a registered sex offender.
“It was just amazing.”
The former child actor defended Dan Schneider despite continued accusations about the writer.
The Quiet On Set documentary unraveled a slew of allegations against Schneider, but Drake was quick to defend his former mentor in the new episode.
I affirm that Schneider was one of the only people who offered support during the ordeal with Peck.
Soledad asked what it was like for Drake to see the allegations against the former Nickelodeon writer, to which he responded: ‘It was very difficult to watch because I can only speak from my experience and I can’t take away anyone else’s experience.
“I can only say that during this time with Brian, Dan was really the only one in the network who made an effort to help me and make sure I was okay.”
The Quiet On Set documentary unraveled a slew of allegations against Schneider (pictured with Ariane Grande), but Drake was quick to defend his former mentor in the new episode.
Speaking of child actors as a whole, particularly in reference to the ‘problematic’ Amanda Bynes, who appeared in a ‘disturbing’ hot tub scene with Schneider during her time on the show, Drake shared: ‘We’ve lost so many that are no longer here. I’ve seen tragedy after tragedy after tragedy in this business and it’s just heartbreaking.
“I spent many years not even wanting to talk about it. Not in therapy, not with my friends, not with my family. A lot of things happened in my personal life that were really difficult and I started to go into a bit of a spiral, is the best way to put it.
Drake said it wasn’t until he went to rehab that he began to “face” his trauma head-on.
‘Obviously, things like DUIs and the decisions I’ve made in my life are decisions I’ve made on my own, so I have to take responsibility for those things.
“But it’s really eye-opening to figure out what maybe the root cause is.” Where does this come from?’
The new episode of the series then aired a never-before-seen clip of Drake’s original interview about how he had been dealing with the trauma.
‘Many times my emotions and my inner thoughts and what I had been through would appear and get in the way, but fortunately I was writing songs and expressing what I felt through music.
“I think that was really my therapy at the time.”
And he added: ‘Music is like my diary or my diary. I’ve always written about my life and after making this documentary I started writing more and more and more things started pouring out.’
Drake shared that his new song titled I Kind Of Relate, as well as the accompanying music video, had channeled his experience.