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Drake Bell Defends Josh Peck Amid ‘Quiet on Set’ Bombshells: ‘He’s Reached Out to Me’
Drake Bell took to social media to defend former Drake & Josh costar Josh Peck amid bombshell claims made in Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. Fans were angry that Josh didn’t publicly speak out in support of the singer after he opened up about facing sexual abuse in the docuseries.
“I want to clear something up. I’ve noticed a lot of comments on some of Josh’s TikToks and some of his posts and I just want to let you guys know … processing this and going through this is a really emotional time and a lot of it is very difficult,” Drake, 37, said in a TikTok on Wednesday, March 20. “So not everything is put out to the public. But I want you guys to know that he has reached out to me.”
Drake also said that opening up about his sexual assault during his time at Nickelodeon had been “sensitive” but added that Josh, 37, had “reached out to talk with [him] and help [him] work through this.”
Drake, who starred in popular Nickelodeon shows like The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh when he was a teenager, was one of several actors featured in the new ID docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. For the first time, the actor revealed he had been the victim of sexual assault at the hands of former dialogue coach and manager Brian Peck, who has no relation to Josh.
Brian, 63, was arrested in August 2003 on 11 counts of sexually abusing an unnamed minor. He pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with a victim around 14 or 15 years old and to oral copulation with a child under 16 years old in May 2004. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and was forced to register as a sex offender. At the time, Drake’s name wasn’t revealed due to him being only 15 years old.
“You know anytime I had an audition or anytime I needed to work on dialogue or anything, I somehow ended up back at Brian’s house,” Drake said during Quiet on Set. “And it just got worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, and I was just trapped. I had no way out. The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal.”
The Drake & Josh star continued, “I often look back at that time and wonder how in the world I survived. I remember all of the abusive events, but everything outside of that is very blurry to me, which is a bummer because I experienced a lot of great things in my life and my career during this time. But it was so overshadowed and ruined by what I was dealing with on the inside that it made it really hard for me.”
If you or anyone you know has been sexually abused, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A trained staff member will provide confidential, judgment-free support as well as local resources to assist in healing, recovering and more.
