Drake Bell isn’t letting his former colleagues off the hook as easily as they did convicted child abuser Brian Peck.
The former Drake and Josh star, 37, who has identified himself as minor dialogue coach Brian Peck was convicted of assault, has in Investigation Discovery’s docu-series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV lashed out at Boy Meets World stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong for writing letters of support to Peck ahead of his sentencing in 2004 asking for leniency, in new comments under an Instagram post made by Alexa Nikolas’ account, @matchthesource, earlier this week.
The two Boy Meets World stars spoke to former co-star Danielle Fishel on the Pod Meets World podcast and claimed they had been groomed by Peck to defend him.
After former Nickelodeon star Alexa Nikolas heard the recording, she took to social media and blasted the men.
After some fans wrote that Friedle and Strong may have been manipulated by Peck into writing the letters, Bell was having none of it. He pointed out that both were adults at the time, with Peck pleading no contest to committing a lewd act on a child and oral copulation of a person under 16.
Peck, who worked with Friedle on Ultimate Spider-Man, blasted his former co-star.
Drake Bell, 37, has blasted former Boy Meets World stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong for writing letters of support to convicted child abuser Brian Peck ahead of his 2004 sentencing, asking for leniency.
‘Will was 27 years old and Brian told him what he did, a lot of people turned away and said no, I don’t want to write a letter, but they did. Will was not manipulated,’ he claimed.
‘Brian admitted to him and he wrote the letter anyway. Then he worked with me on many many episodes of Spider Man years later and never said a word to me about it. This is because they were told that (sic) letters will be published. Everyone thought the letters would be sealed forever and no one would ever see them.’
Bell was cynical about the reason his former colleague expressed his regret, writing: ‘This is their publicist telling them how to get ahead of the story.’
In a separate post, Bell held Strong responsible for his actions, writing: ‘No, he wasn’t. RIDER WAS 24 years old when he wrote the letter and was told by Brian what he was doing. He wrote the letter anyway’.
Bell has revealed that Friedle and Strong weren’t the only celebrities who overlooked Peck’s crimes and offered their support.
According to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, the abuse occurred when Peck visited the underage actor at his home for coaching. He was arrested after the young actor’s parents reported the abuse to the police.
Peck was originally charged with 11 counts, but admitted to only two in a plea deal.
Boy Meets World alums Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel, 42, and Will Friedle talked about their experience with Peck Feb. 19 on their podcast
Boy Meets World co-stars Rider Strong, 44, (left) and Will Friedle, 47, who met Peck when he guest-starred on their show, wrote letters to the judge and appeared in support of Peck
After defending his actions on Pod Meets World, Bell called out his former Ultimate Spider-Man co-star, saying he was an adult at the time, coming to Peck’s defense in a letter pleading for leniency
Bell pointed out that Strong was also an adult at the time of sentencing and showed his support for the admitted predator
The Going Away singer claimed that when he and his parents entered the courtroom for the sentencing, it was packed with celebrities supporting his admitted abuser.
“I looked at all of them and I just said, ‘How dare you?'” Bell said. ‘I said, “You will forever have the memory of sitting in this courtroom and defending this person.
“And I will forever have the memory of the person you defend, violate me and commit unspeakable acts and crimes and that is what I will remember.”
Strong and Friedle, who met Peck when he guest starred on two episodes of Boy Meets World’s fifth season in 1999, also wrote letters to the judge.
One of the letters sent by the sitcom actors read: ‘It was extremely distressing to hear about Brian’s arrest. Evil is so contrary to his nature that it is impossible for me to understand a situation that would cause him to do anything illegal or even inappropriate.’
‘I immediately called him and offered what support I could. Of course, Brian being Brian, he had already received several such calls.’
Some of those who wrote letters of support included actor James Marsden, 50, who revealed that Peck was his best man at his wedding to Lisa Linde in 2000.
In a letter reviewed by US Weekly, the X-Men star called the dialogue coach his ‘mentor’ and wrote: ‘I don’t want to dramatize this, but I’m talking wholeheartedly about a man whose heart is pure and no matter what you’re talking about, his intentions are always good. He has such an amazing ability to care about people. This, I think, is very rare. Especially in Hollywood. Brian genuinely cares about other people.’
Growing Pains stars Joanna Kerns, 71, and the late Alan Thicke also spoke highly of Peck.
In excerpts from a letter written by Kerns and shown on the documentary, she appeared to blame the victim. ‘I can only think that there must have been an extreme situation or temptation exerted upon him to influence his actions.’
The actress later issued a statement rejecting the letter, saying: ‘I have now learned that my letter of support was based on complete misinformation. Knowing what I know now, I would never have written the letter.’
The large support could have contributed to the relatively light sentence Peck received. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender. The maximum penalty under California law is up to eight years.
Peck was charged in 2003 with 11 counts of child abuse, and the following year pleaded no contest to committing a lewd act on a child and oral copulation on a person under 16. Pictured in 2012 in Burbank
Peck faces up to eight years in prison, but was sentenced to 16 months behind bars in connection with his plea and was mandated to register as a sex offender. He continued to be employed to work on projects involving minors after his release
James Marsden, 50, and other celebrities wrote letters of support to Brian Peck after he was accused of child sexual abuse, a minor, now known to be Drake Bell in 2003 (Marsden pictured March 10)
In 2015, DailyMail.com revealed that despite his conviction, Peck continued to work on a Disney show and a high school-themed horror film.
He only faced restrictions on direct contact with children, which allowed him to be employed in alternative roles, even on projects heavily involving children and teenagers.
Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, he continued with minor acting roles and worked as a dialogue coach. His last credited acting appearance, according to IMDb, was in 2018.
The two-part series, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, airs March 17 and 18 on Discovery.