Drake Bell dismisses Nickelodeon's "empty" support in first post-Quiet On Set interview
Bell also talked about Boy Meets World's Will Friedle and Rider Strong, who wrote letters of support for his abuser
Drake Bell has given an interview this week to The Sarah Fraser Show podcast, marking the former Drake & Josh star’s first such interview since the broadcast of Investigation Discovery’s recently released docuseries Quiet On Set. Subtitled The Dark Side Of Kids TV, the docuseries prominently featured both Bell and his father Joe, talking about sexual abuse that the younger Bell suffered while at Nickelodeon at the hands of dialogue coach Brian Peck, who was convicted on two counts of lewd conduct with a minor in 2004.
In this new interview, Bell addresses some of the reactions to the revelations in Quiet On Set—including a statement from Nickelodeon in which reps for the network said “we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma [Bell] has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward.” Which doesn’t appear to have done much to move or “support” Bell, who said that,
There’s a very well-tailored response saying, ‘Learning about his trauma,’ because they couldn’t say that they didn’t know about this or what had happened, or anything. So I think that was a really well-tailored response by probably some big attorney in Hollywood. I find it pretty empty, their responses, because, I mean, they still show our shows, they still put our shows on. And I have to pay for my own therapy, I have to figure out what — I mean if there was anything, if there was any truth behind them actually caring, there would be something more than quotes on a page by obviously a legal representative telling them exactly how to tailor a response.
Bell also talked about the dozens of letters of support that were written for Peck by numerous people he worked with on various family and kids shows (including Growing Pains’ Alan Thicke and Boy Meets World’s Will Friedle and Rider Strong). “I don’t know what they’re feeling,” Bell said of Friedle and Strong, who addressed their since-withdrawn support of Peck on a recent episode of their podcast Pod Meets World. Bell does note that he takes some issue with a perceived framing by the pair that they were easily manipulated youths when they supported Peck, pointing that that Friedle was 27, and Strong 24, when they wrote their letters.