The former stars of “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” issued an apology to Drake Bell after he called them out for seemingly making light of his abuse at the hands of a Nickelodeon employee.
Earlier this week, Devon Werkheiser, Lindsey Shaw and Daniel Curtis Lee were slammed online for making a sexual and highly inappropriate joke when asked about the “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” docuseries during a TikTok live.
However, Werkheiser explained on the trio’s podcast Thursday that he was not even talking about the disturbing documentary — which he had not yet seen — and instead just joking around with Curtis Lee, whom the comment was directed towards.
“If you haven’t seen the clip, if you haven’t seen what’s going on, we were on a TikTok Live being asked to comment on the ‘Quiet on Set’ documentary, which we hadn’t seen, and a super s—t joke came out that was referenced at Daniel [Curtis Lee] and looked like I was talking about Drake [Bell],” Werkheiser explained.
“We f—ked up. I get it. We hadn’t seen the doc and everyone was asking us for their for our opinions on it.”
Now having seen the documentary, the group admitted they had “no clue” about the “magnitude” of abuse Bell suffered at the hands of former dialect coach Brian Peck.
“Now we have watched it … I get it,” Werkheiser added. “If I had just watched — especially that third episode — and then watched us joking like that, I would be like, ‘Are they sociopaths? Is something wrong with them?’”
Curtis Lee noted that the comment was directed towards him in the “extreme way” that they jokingly belittle one another, but made it clear they were not referring to Bell.
Werkheiser later admitted that he “felt like a piece of s—t” after the “Drake & Josh” star called them “declassless” and slammed them for “laughing” at his trauma.
“I know it looks like I’m laughing at this and I f—king wasn’t, but I know what it looks like, and that Drake saw it … yeah,” Werkheiser clarified. “I just felt so f—king awful, knowing that Drake saw us in that context.”
Meanwhile, Shaw said she regretted that the group showed such “insensitivity” to such a serious topic.
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“I am sorry. I know that that even when there wasn’t an intention or malice behind things people have done for me, I know that it has just helped me when people meet me where I am and recognize like, ‘Hey that was a gut punch, whether it was intentional or not,’” she said. “And, yeah, gut punches suck.”
Werkheiser also apologized to Bell earlier this week after the initial incident made its rounds online.
“I was being an idiot today,” he wrote on X Tuesday. “No way around it. I feel horrible that my dumbass was even speaking about this without seeing it.”
“I watched ‘Quiet on Set’ tonight and am horrified by the gravity of what Drake and others shared. Truly heartbroken over what my fellow actors went through. I can’t believe they weren’t protected. I’m sorry for compounding any hurt.”
In the four-part series, Bell revealed that Peck started molesting him in the early 2000s when he was 15 and working at Nickelodeon.
Peck, who met Bell while filming Season 2 of “The Amanda Show,” was subsequently convicted of sexually abusing an unknown — at the time — child actor.
He was sentenced to 16 months in jail and had to register as a sex offender. However, after serving his time, Peck got a job on Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
