Fans bash Josh Peck for silence as Drake Bell abuse allegations revealed in documentary: ‘You disappointed us’
Earlier this month, Bell spoke out for the first time about the alleged sexual abuse he says he suffered at 15
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Your support makes all the difference.Josh Peck has received a barrage of fan backlash for staying silent after his Drake & Josh co-star Drake Bell made allegations of sexual abuse against actor and dialogue coach Brian Peck.
Former Nickelodeon star Bell, now 37, spoke out for the first time in Investigation Discovery’s new docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV about the sexual abuse he alleges he suffered at the hands of Brian Peck when he was 15.
Brian Peck worked as a dialogue coach on Nickelodeon’s All That and The Amanda Show. Bell starred in the latter show from 1999 to 2002 before going on to take the lead role in his own Nickelodeon series, Drake & Josh, alongside Josh. The show’s creator, Nickelodeon executive producer Dan Schneider has since spoken out on the claims made in the documentary.
Josh Peck and Brian Peck are not related.
In August 2003, Brian Peck was arrested on more than a dozen charges related to sexual abuse allegations involving an unnamed minor.
A year later, he pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14 or 15-year-old and to oral copulation with a minor under 16. Brian Peck was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender in October 2004.
Since Bell’s allegations were brought to light in the documentary – released on 17 and 18 March – several of Josh Peck’s Instagram posts have been bombarded with comments from users angered by his “silence”.
“The silence is disgusting,” one wrote beneath a week-old photo of Josh and Diary of a Wimpy Kid actor Devon Bostick.
“You disappointed us,” said another, below a February post.
In the wake of this backlash, Bell stepped in to confirm that Peck had contacted him after watching the documentary, and had been “supportive”.
The Independent has contacted Josh Peck’s representative for comment.
Josh, 37, has previously spoken about his relationship with Bell, admitting that they are no longer friends. “We were kids, right? Obviously, there were times when we were closer than not, but when inevitably the show ended – I mean, we’re just totally different kids,” he said on a 2022 episode of Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards’ podcast BFFs.
“Drake & Josh is something I’ll be synonymous with forever and I’m proud of it,” he added. “And I want to like the guy that my name is attached to forever, but unfortunately, it just sort of worked out the way that it did.”
Earlier this week, Bell called out Boys Meets World alums Rider Strong and Will Friedle for not apologising for their support of Brian Peck.
It was uncovered in the documentary that several child actors had written letters of support for Brian Peck, including Strong and Friedle.
Ahead of the release of the series, Strong and Friedle said on their Pod Meets World podcast that they had felt “shame” for being “misled” by the dialogue coach.
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, a four-part docuseries investigating the toxic work conditions at children’s shows in the 1990s and early 2000s, aired on 17 and 18 March. It’s available to stream on Max and Discovery+.