Former child star Drake Bell has opened up about the “unspeakable” abuse he suffered as a teenager at the hands of his dialog coach. The Nickelodeon child actor claims that Brian Peck first sexually assaulted him at age 15 on the set of the Amanda Show twelve years ago. During an interview for an upcoming documentary, Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV, Bell said the abuse was “extensive” and began during a casting trip. The actor described falling asleep on a couch and waking up to find Peck performing sexual acts on him.
“I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react,” he explained. The abuse got worse from then on, he said, but he kept it to himself until eventually “exploding” and telling his mother what had been happening.
Brian Peck worked with Nickelodeon Productions in the 1990s and 2000s, and in 2004, he pleaded no contest to charges of oral copulation with a minor and a separate charge of performing a lewd act. The identity of his victim, Drake Bell, was not released, however, until Mr. Bell spoke about it for the new documentary.
Nickelodeon has issued a statement saying, “We are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured.”
In 2021, however, Mr. Drake found himself on the other side of legal charges and was sentenced to two years’ probation for disseminating inappropriate content to a minor. The offenses occurred in 2017, but Drake was not indicted until four years later. The unnamed victim was a female and 15 years old at the time. She testified that she had exchanged text messages of a sexual nature with Drake and that he sexually assaulted her on two occasions. He denied those accusations.
Bell’s attorney, Ian Friedman, said his client’s conduct was “not proper,” but there was no evidence to suggest an assault because no such incident took place.
