Drake & Josh star Drake Bell finally admits that a Nickelodeon dialogue coach sexually abused him when he was 15.
The upcoming Investigation Discovery series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, set to air March 17 and 18, plans to uncover the truth the dark side of Nickelodeon during it’s most profitable years.
In promos and trailers for the series, it has been teased that the anonymous minor who was abused by Brian Peck, a dialogue coach who worked on Nickelodeon on several shows, would finally be coming forward.
Two weeks before the show’s premiere, ID revealed that the star was Drake Bell and teased the shocking tale he’s finally ready to share.
Drake Bell Sexually Abused: Revealed As Brian Peck’s Victim
Brian Peck worked for many years as a dialogue coach for the kids’ network. He got his start on shows like All That and The Amanda Show, which Drake starred in before landing his own series, Drake and Josh.
In August 2003, Peck was arrested on 11 charges related to allegations that he’d sexually abused an unnamed child. He later pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act and to oral copulation with a minor under 16. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender in October 2004.
For more than two decades, the identity of Peck’s victim has remained anonymous, due to them being a minor
In the documentary, Drake speaks out for the first time about sexual abuse he says he experienced as a 15-year-old child star.
Drake Bell Guilty Of Felony Child Endangerment Himself
In a shocking twist, the revelation about this alleged abuse comes just a few years after Drake Bell pleaded guilty to felony child endangerment.
In July 2021, Drake took a plea deal and was sentenced to two years’ probation on child endangerment charges. Drake was accused by a young fan of carrying out “blatantly sexual” conversations with her when she was 15 years old.
During the hearing on the case, the young woman called Drake a “pedophile” and insisted that not only did the exchange explicit photos, but that on several occasions — including at a concert venue in Cleveland and a hotel — engaged in sexual conduct.
The case was settled when Drake took a plea deal, a move many took to mean he was guilty of the young woman’s charges against him. Shortly after the case was closed, he took to social media to explain further.
“When I was presented with a plea deal because of the messages, I felt that it was the best way to get this over quickly and for everybody involved to be able to move on and for me to get back to doing what I love,” he said.
“It’s not me telling you that the claims are false, but the state of Ohio has proven claims to be false,” he alleged. “If these claims were remotely true, my situation would be very different. I would not be here at home with my wife and my son.”