Drake Bell revealed that none of the celebrities who supported his abuser Brian Peck during his sentencing have apologized to him following the release of Investigation Discovery’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV docuseries.
In the series, Bell details the abuse he faced from Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck. “I was sleeping on the couch where I would usually sleep. I woke up to him, I opened my eyes, I woke up and he was sexually assaulting me,” Bell recalls. “I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react.”
In 2003, Peck was arrested on 11 charges of child sexual abuse, per the Los Angeles Police Department. As revealed in Quiet on Set, the minor in the case was Bell, who filed as a John Doe to protect his identity.
Bell recalled seeing many recognizable faces on Peck’s side of the courtroom including Will Friedle, Rider Strong, Taran Killam, and James Marsden, all of whom wrote letters defending Peck.
Episode 5, “Breaking the Silence,” which premiered Apr. 7, shows Bell revisiting the topic with Soledad O’Brien.
“That day is so ingrained in my mind and there’s so many people who haven’t… nobody’s reached out to me,” Bell reveals.
When O’Brien asks Bell to clarify, he repeats, “Not one person who’s written one of those letters has reached out to me.”
After the docuseries aired, Friedle expressed regret for his actions. “We’re sitting in that courtroom on the wrong side of everything,” Friedle recalled on the Pod Meets World podcast. “The victim’s mother turned and said, ‘Look at all the famous people you brought with you. And it doesn’t change what you did to my kid.’”
Bell responds to Friedle’s comments in the new episode, saying that Friedle has had plenty of time to apologize in person as they later worked together on the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series.
“I worked with Will on Spider-Man and he had a lot of opportunity to apologize or talk about it and never did. But also, it’s a very difficult subject to bring up. I mean, especially in a work environment,” Bell tells O’Brien. “That’s the thing that’s hard about this. Everybody deals with their trauma in different ways and everybody comes to different conclusions at different times in their lives and then realizations. I really appreciate their perspective now.”
Regarding the case, Peck pleaded no contest to two charges of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to 16 months in jail. Upon release, he was ordered to register as a sex offender.
Quiet on Set is currently streaming on Max and Discovery+.
If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.
