Nickelodeon responds to Drake Bell’s abuse accusations

Former children’s television star Drake Bell has outlined details of horrific abuse in Investigation Discovery’s documentary series ‘Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV’. Bell has revealed that he was a victim of sexual abuse during his time on Nickelodeon and has pointed to former ‘The Amanda Show’ dialogue coach Brian Peck as his abuser.

In 2004 Peck, then 43, was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender after being arrested on 11 charges, including lewd acts against a minor. At that time the name of the minor was not revealed but Bell has now decided to identify himself as the plaintiff.

Nickelodeon responds to Drake Bell’s abuse allegations

Bell was working as a child actor for kids’ TV channel Nickelodeon when the abuse occurred. In response to his comments the channel has issued a press release. Nickelodeon fell short of confirming Bell’s account but stated that it had strived to ensure the safety of everyone on their sets.

“Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct,” the statement explained.

“Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”

What did Drake Bell say about Nickelodeon abuse?

According to Bell’s testimony the events occurred at Peck’s house in 2003, when the ‘Drake and Josh’ star was 14 years old. He explains that it was common for him to stay at Peck’s home in Los Angeles while he was shooting in the area. It was in this context that Bell was first subject to Peck’s attacks.

Bell explains: “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. I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react, and I have no idea how to get out of this situation. He figured out how to convince my mom and everyone around to, anytime I would have an audition or anytime I needed to work on dialogue or anything, I somehow ended up back at Brian’s house and it just got worse and worse and worse and worse. I was just trapped. I had no way out.”

As time went by, Bell’s then-girlfriend’s mother began to worry about Peck’s unusual behaviour toward Bell and took the teenager to a therapist. Later, when Drake auditioned for the lead role in ‘Drake and Josh’ he discovered that Peck had tried to take the role of the father.

This information unsettled Bell to such an extent that he was finally pushed to call his mother and explain his ordeal, saying that he “exploded” in the conversation. Immediately his mother called the police and they began an investigation, which ended with Peck being charged, convicted and imprisoned. Even after he had been in prison for forcing sexual relations with child actors, he went on to work on three episodes of Disney Channel children’s show ‘The Suite Life of Zack & Cody’ in 2006 and 2007.