Josh Peck says he ‘reached out’ to Nickelodeon costar Drake Bell privately about sexual abuse claims, reacts to ‘Quiet on Set’: ‘Children should be protected’
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- Josh Peck supported former costar Drake Bell after he recently revealed that he was sexually assaulted.
- In the docuseries “Quiet on Set,” Bell said he was sexually abused as a teen by acting coach Brian Peck.
- Peck said that he reached out to Bell privately.
Nickelodeon alum Josh Peck weighed in on the shocking revelations from “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” and offered his support to former costar Drake Bell and others who spoke up about their traumatizing experiences on the kids network.
“I finished the ‘Quiet On Set ‘documentary and took a few days to process it,” Peck wrote in a post shared on Instagram on Thursday. “I reached out to Drake privately, but want to give my support for the survivors who were brave enough to share their stories of emotional and physical abuse on Nickelodeon sets with the world. Children should be protected.”
“Reliving this publicly is incredibly difficult, but I hope it can bring healing for the victims and their families as well as necessary change to our industry,” he added.
Nickelodeon
Peck and Bell met as costars on Dan Schneider‘s Nickelodeon series “The Amanda Show,” starring Amanda Bynes. Their rapport on the show led to the two actors landing their own sitcom created by Schneider titled “Drake & Josh,” which centered on teenage stepsiblings with wildly different personalities. The show ran for four seasons between 2004 and 2007 and also spawned two TV movies.
Nickelodeon and Schneider have come under scrutiny following the release of Investigation Discovery’s four-part docuseries “Quiet on Set,” released across two nights on Sunday and Monday.
The docuseries was directed by Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz and produced by Maxine Productions, a part of Sony Pictures Television Nonfiction, in association with Business Insider. BI’s Kate Taylor served as an executive producer.
“Quiet on Set” included interviews with various actors and crew members who discussed trauma that stemmed from being employed at Nickelodeon.
Actors like Alexa Nikolas, Bryan Hearne, and Katrina Johnson recalled troubling experiences and unsafe working conditions at the network. The documentary also addressed two predatory males who worked closely with children at Nickelodeon: production assistant Jason Handy and dialogue and acting coach Brian Peck (who is unrelated to Josh Peck).
Handy was sentenced to six years in prison on two felony accounts and one misdemeanor involving two girls. Peck was arrested in August 2003 on 11 charges of child sexual abuse related to an unnamed actor — who the docuseries revealed to be Bell.
In “Quiet on Set,” Bell recounted being sexually assaulted by Peck when he was 15 years old. His appearance marked the first time he spoke out publicly about his experience. After the docuseries’ release, Bell addressed people who were apparently directing hate at Peck for being silent.
“I just want to clear something up,” Bell said in a video posted on TikTok on Wednesday. “I’ve noticed a lot of comments on some of Josh’s TikToks and some of his posts.”
“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 said.
The actor went on to say that Peck reached out to him privately.
“It’s been very sensitive,” Bell said. “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.”
