James Marsden, Alan Thicke and more wrote letters of support for child molester

James Marsden, Alan Thicke, The boy knows the world stars and several other prominent artists wrote letters of support to convicted child molester Brian Peck when the former Nickelodeon speech coach was to be sentenced for sexually abusing 15-year-old Drake Bell.

In the upcoming documentary series, Silence on the set: The dark side of children’s televisionBell reveals that he was the unnamed teenage victim whose testimony led to Peck’s arrest in 2003, whom the actor met while working on Amanda’s show. The Investigation Discovery series (premiering Sunday) requested that court documents in the case be released and found several letters of support from now-prominent artists endorsing Peck’s character at the time. Peck: no relation to Bell Drake and Josh His co-star Josh Peck pleaded no contest to two counts of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2004 and registered as a sex offender.

Among those who wrote the letters were Marsden, Taran Killam, growing pains starring Thicke and Joanna Kerns, twin peaks actress kimmy robertson, The boy knows the world actors Will Friedle and Rider Strong, American horror story the actor Ron Meléndez and Amanda Show crew members Rich and Beth Correll.

Representatives for Marsden, Killam, Robertson, Kerns, Friedle, Strong, Melendez and Rich Correll did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment. Beth Correll could not be reached for comment.

The docuseries shows an excerpt from Marsden’s letter, which reads: “I assure you that what Brian has been through in the last year is the suffering of a hundred men.” The doctor noted that Marsden had known Peck since jury service The star was a young teenager.

The letter of the future. Saturday night live cast member Killam, who also stared Amanda’s show, included the line: “I’ve seen the effects this situation has had on Brian and I know for a fact that he regrets the mistakes he made.”

In his letter, Thicke, who died in 2016, insisted that Peck “was never inappropriate in any way.”

Meanwhile, Robertson wrote: “I believe with all my heart that Brian was pressured and pushed beyond belief before he gave in.”

Rich Correll’s letter said, “It would be my pleasure… to work with him again.” Once Peck was released from prison, the Corrells worked with him again, this time on the Disney Channel show. Suite life with Zack and Cody. However, according to the doctor, the Corrells stated that they were “not involved or involved” in Peck’s casting, and said that when they asked him about the case, “Mr. Peck simply responded that ‘the problem had been resolved.'”

Silence on set emphasizes that it is unknown what the letter writers were told about Peck’s situation, and it is quite possible that the documents were written in good faith due to misinformation about the case.

Kerns wrote in his letter: “I can only believe that there must have been some extreme situation or temptation exerted upon him to influence his actions.” She provided a follow-up statement that appeared in the docu-series that said: “I have now learned that my letter of support was based on completely erroneous information. Knowing what I know now, I would never have written the letter.”

No excerpts from the other letters were shown. Friedle and Rider discussed her regret over her friendship with Peck on a recent episode of The capsule meets the world. “He said nothing happened,” Rider said. “So when we heard about this case and learned something about it, it was always in the context of: ‘I did this, I’m guilty. I’m going to receive whatever punishment the government determines, but I’m a jailbait victim.’ There was this hot guy, I just did this and he’s underage.” And we believed that story. I never heard about the other stuff because, back then, you couldn’t Google it to find out what people were accused of. So, in retrospect,” Rider suggested, “he was making a deal and admitting one thing, which is all he admitted to us, but it seems like he was being accused of a series of crimes, which we didn’t know about.”

“There’s a real victim here, and he turned us against the victim to where we’re now on his team,” Friedle said. “That’s what, for me, I look back on as my ever-loving shame about this.” All. Being fooled by someone who is a good actor and a manipulator, you could attribute it to being young and it is. It is awful. I’m going to use that for my growth as a human being. , but when there’s a real victim involved and now I’m on the abuser’s side, that’s what I can’t get over and haven’t been able to get over.”

Silence on the set: The dark side of children’s television airs March 17 and 18 at 9 pm ET/PT on ID.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to connect with a certified crisis counselor.

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