Josh Peck was heavily criticized by his fans because he Drake and Josh Co-star Drake Bell made allegations of sexual abuse against actor and dialogue coach Brian Peck.
Former Nickelodeon star Bell, now 37, spoke for the first time in Investigation Discovery’s new documentary series Peace on set: The dark side of children’s television about the sexual abuse he says he suffered at the age of 15 at the hands of Brian Peck.
Brian Peck worked as a dialogue coach at Nickelodeon All that And The Amanda Show. Bell starred in the latter show from 1999 to 2002 before landing the lead role in his own Nickelodeon series. Drake and Joshalongside Josh. The show’s creator, Nickelodeon executive producer Dan Schneider, has since spoken out about the allegations made in the documentary.
Josh Peck and Brian Peck are not related.
In August 2003, Brian Peck was arrested on more than a dozen charges related to unnamed allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.
A year later, he pleaded guilty to committing a lewd act with a 14- or 15-year-old and performing oral sex on a minor under the age of 16. Brian Peck was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender in October 2004.
Since Bell’s allegations came to light in the documentary released on March 17 and 18, several of Josh Peck’s Instagram posts have been bombarded with comments from users angry about his “silence.”
“The silence is disgusting,” wrote one under a week-old photo of Josh and Greg’s Diary Actor Devon Bostick.
“You have disappointed us,” said another under a post from February.
Following this backlash, Bell chimed in and confirmed that Peck had contacted him after watching the documentary and offered him “support.”
The Independent has reached out to Josh Peck’s representative for comment.
Josh, 37, has previously spoken about his relationship with Bell, admitting that they are no longer friends. “We were kids, right? Obviously there were times when we were closer than not, but when the show inevitably ended – I mean, we’re just completely different kids,” he said on a 2022 episode of Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards’ podcast Best friends.
“Drake and Josh is something that will be associated with me forever and I’m proud of it,” he added. “And I want to like the guy that my name is associated with forever, but unfortunately it just happened the way it happened.”
Earlier this week, Bell Boys Meets World Former students Rider Strong and Will Friedle have not apologized for their support of Brian Peck.
The documentary revealed that several child actors, including Strong and Friedle, had written letters of support to Brian Peck.
Before the series was released, Strong and Friedle said on their Pod meets world Podcast that they felt “shame” because they had been “misled” by the dialogue coach.
Peace on set: The dark side of children’s televisiona four-part docuseries examining toxic working conditions on children’s shows in the 1990s and early 2000s, aired March 17 and 18. It is available to stream on Max and Discovery+.
