Drake Bell is not happy with those television stars who defended his abuser Brian Peck — rightfully so.
In 2004, the former Nickelodeon dialogue coach pleaded no contest to one charge each of oral copulation with a minor under 16 and performing a lewd act with a 14- or 15-year-old. He went to prison for 16 months and was ordered to register as a sex offender. The identity of the minor involved in the case had not been disclosed at the time. But this year, Drake came forward to reveal he was Peck’s victim. The 37-year-old actor opened up for the first time about being sexually assaulted by Peck in the Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. Harrowing stuff.
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In light of the documentary, some shocking new details about Peck’s sentencing came out. Several stars penned letters of support for him while asking a judge for leniency, including some who also spent their childhoods on TV — like Boy Meets World actors Will Friedle and Rider Strong. Yeah, these two defended a convicted child molester. Of course, this isn’t a good look for Will, Rider, or any of the actors involved. And the Girl Meets World alums know this. In fact, they spoke about the letters in an episode of their Pod Meets World podcast last month — before the new documentary came out!
Will and Rider claimed they were groomed and manipulated by Peck — seemingly explaining why they supported Peck throughout the case. And years later, they expressed regret ever writing the letters. Will said:
“We weren’t told the whole story, but it doesn’t change the fact that we did it. I still can’t get the words out to describe all of the things that I’m feeling inside of myself.”
They seem genuinely remorseful. However, Drake isn’t buying their words. Now, he has publicly called them out. When Zoey 101 alum Alexa Nikolas dropped a post criticizing Friedle, Strong, and Danielle Fishel’s podcast episode discussing Peck, fans flooded the comments section to support the trio. One person wrote on Thursday:
“They were victims too. I listened to that entire podcast and they were manipulated by him just like anyone else. They feel awful. And they were minors. This isn’t black and white.”
Later, Drake caught wind of this comment. And he did not hold back while slamming Rider and Will for supporting Peck. The Amanda Show alum fired back:
“Will was 27 years old and Brian told him what he did many people turned away and said no I won’t write a letter but they did. Will was not manipulated. Brian admitted it to him and he wrote the letter anyway. Then he worked with me on many many episodes of spider man years later and never said a word to me about it.”
When it comes to their statements on the podcast, Drake feels Will and Rider were only trying to “get ahead of the story” — instead of feeling real guilt for their actions:
“This is because they were told there letters are going to be made public. Everyone thought the letters would be sealed forever and no one would ever see them. This is their publicist telling them how to get ahead of the story.”
Oof. In response to another commenter saying “Rider Strong was also a minor” at the time of the letter, Drake clapped back:
“No he wasn’t. RIDER WAS 24 years old when he wrote the letter and was told by Brian what he did. He wrote the letter anyway.”
At this time, neither Will nor Rider have further addressed the criticism from Drake. But we are curious to see what they have to say and if they will come forward to apologize to the Drake & Josh star. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
[Image via Apega/WENN, Good Morning America/YouTube]
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