Drake Bell has taken to social media to inform fans that his Nickelodeon co-star Josh Peck has reached out to him in private about the abuse allegations Bell made in the documentary “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.”
Josh Peck starred in the sitcom “Drake & Josh” alongside Bell, who in the documentary revealed he was sexually assaulted by Nickelodeon dialogue and acting coach Brian Peck (no relation to Josh) while working on “All That” and “The Amanda Show” in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
After “Quiet on Set” debuted on Max, Josh Peck posted a social media video that was littered with comments demanding he speak out about his co-stars’ allegations, as TMZ reported.
“I just want to clear something up. I’ve noticed a lot of comments on some of Josh’s TikToks and some of his posts,” Bell said in a video posted to TikTok. “I just want to let you guys know that this is really … processing this and going through this is a really emotional time, and a lot of it is very, very difficult. So not everything is put out to the public.”
Bell continued, “But I just want you guys to know that he has reached out to me, and it’s been very sensitive. But he has reached out to talk with me and help me work through this. And has been really, really great. So just wanted to let you guys know that and to take it a little easy on him.”
Bell and Josh Peck played teenage stepbrothers Drake and Josh from 2004 until 2008 in four seasons of the Nickelodeon series, plus two movies. Josh Peck did not appear in “Quiet on the Set.”
In 2003, Brian Peck, 43 at the time, was arrested on 11 charges — including sodomy, lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 by a person 10 years older, and oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance — but the victim was not named until now, when Bell stepped forward. “Quiet on Set” also revealed allegations of emotional abuse and sexualization of child actors against Nickelodeon executive and “Drake & Josh” creator Dan Schneider, which he addressed in a video released after the documentary premiered.
“Watching over the past two nights was very difficult,” Schneider said. “Facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret. I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”