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Drake Bell criticized Will Friedle and Rider Strong for being two of the many famous actors who defended their abuser, Brian Peck, when the Nickelodeon speech coach faced prison time for his crimes.
Bell, who is set to break his silence about the abuse he allegedly experienced at the hands of Peck in a new docuseries, took to Instagram on Thursday to respond to a number of fans who commented in support of the “Boy Meets World” co-stars.
“They were victims too,” one fan wrote about the Nickelodeon alum. Alexa Nikolas’s publication criticizing the recent episode of Friedle, Strong and Danielle Fishel’s podcast, in which the two men alleged that Peck had groomed them, apparently using that as an excuse for why they backed him in court.
The fan added: “I listened to that whole podcast and they were manipulated by him like anyone else. They feel horrible. And they were minors. “This is not black and white.”
Bell, 37, wrote in response: “Will was 27 and Brian told him what he did. A lot of people turned around and said no, I’m not writing a letter, but they did. “Will was not manipulated.”
He added in a separate comment that Strong was “24 years old when he wrote the letter and Brian told him what he did,” reiterating that, like Friedle, the former child star “wrote the letter anyway.”
Bell also claimed that Friedle has yet to personally apologize to him despite having had the opportunity to do so.
“He worked with me on many episodes of (‘Ultimate Spider-Man’) years later and never said a word to me about it,” the “All That” actor said.
Bell then accused Friedle, 47, and Strong, 44, of speaking about their role in the Peck case in a remorseful tone. in their “Pod Meets World” episode on February 19 for an ulterior motive.
The “iCarly” alum said he believed the letters were brought up because they will be discussed on Investigation Discovery’s “Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” which premieres this weekend.
“They didn’t tell us the whole story, but that doesn’t change the fact that we did it,” Friedle said previously on his podcast. “I still can’t find the words to describe all the things I feel inside of me.”
Bell concluded via his Instagram comment: “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.”
Page Six reached out to representatives for Friedle and Strong but did not immediately receive a response.
Bell, for his part, Go into more detail about Peck’s alleged abuse when he was just 15 years old.
According to an advance screening of the docu-series, the former child actor, who met the acting coach on “The Amanda Show,” claims Peck began abusing him when he slept at her house.
“I woke up and found him, I opened my eyes, I woke up and he was sexually assaulting me,” Bell recalls, speaking publicly about the allegations for the first time.
“I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react, and I had no idea how to get out of this situation.”
Bell goes on to describe how the alleged abuse continued and “got worse” over time, noting, “I was just trapped. She had no way out.”
After Peck, now 62, allegedly tried to land a role on her show, “Drake & Josh,” Bell says she finally told her mother what happened and a police investigation was launched.
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Peck was arrested in 2003 on 11 charges, including sodomy, lewd act on a child and oral copulation of a person under 16, and oral copulation using anesthesia or controlled substances.
He was convicted a year later on only two of the charges and the rest were dismissed after 41 letters speaking favorably of him, including those from Friedle and Strong, were sent to the judge.
The disgraced voice actor was sentenced to 16 months in prison and reportedly returned to working on children’s shows like “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” after his release.
“Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” airs Sundays and Mondays at 9 pm ET on Investigation Discovery.
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