Nickelodeon alumni talk about their former relationship with Drake Bell’s abuser

Entertainment

By Asia Grace

Brian Peck wasn’t just a dialogue coach for child actors on Nickelodeon’s “All That” in the late ’90s and ’00s.

The show’s stars Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne, who joined the sitcom as pre-teens during its seventh season in 2002, actually considered Peck, then 42, a friend.

“We were very close,” Samuels, now 38, and Hearne, 35, told The Post in unison.

“We ran lines with him all the time. He signed my ‘All That’ yearbook,” Samuels said of Peck, who often appeared on camera as the scene-hopping dimwitted “Pickle Boy,” clumsily carrying a tray of pickles.

“They invited us over to their house for parties and stuff,” Samuels continued.

“We were all under this naive cloak of, ‘We’re a family, we all hang out,’” he added. “‘This is normal. It is common for an adult to want to be friends with a child.”

But Peck’s abject friendship with the preteens was apparently anything but normal.

“I was sleeping on the couch and I woke up to him sexually assaulting me,” “Drake & Josh” star Drake Bell, 37, says in ID Channel’s upcoming exposé, “Quiet on the Set.”

The four-part documentary, premiering Sunday and Monday, reveals the sexual, emotional and mental abuse that Nick stars and early staff allegedly suffered while working on productions primarily directed by Dan Schneider, 58. .

In a statement to The Post, Nickelodeon said: “Although we cannot corroborate or deny allegations of behavior from decades-old productions, Nickelodeon, as a matter of policy, investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional work environment, free of harassment or other types of conduct. “inappropriate.”

““Our top priorities are the well-being and best interests of not only our employees, cast and crew, but all children,” the spokesperson added. “We have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we live up to our high standards and the expectations of our audience.”

Schneider, once revered as the network’s “golden boy,” was the mastermind behind such hit comedies as “All That,” “Drake & Josh,” “iCarly,” “Sam & Cat,” “Zoey 101” and “Victorious.” ”

But after nearly two decades of success in children’s television, the writer was removed from Nickelodeon in March 2018 amid accusations that he created a “toxic” work environment on sets.

Neither Schneider nor Peck responded to the Post’s individual requests for comment.

In the document, Bell, who publicly revealing details of sexual abuse for the first timereveals the “extensive” and “brutal” abuse she suffered at the hands of Peck.

“I was paralyzed and in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react,” Bell recalls. “I have no idea how to get out of this situation. “I was 15 at the time.”

He initially became a student of Peck’s on set after being cast in “The Amanda Show,” a Schneider creation starring Amanda Bynes, in 2000.

Because of their shared interest in old Hollywood history, Peck’s relationship with the teenager quickly went from friend to alarming, says Bell’s father and former manager, Joe.

“I started seeing Brian hanging around Drake too much… it didn’t sit well with me,” the concerned father says in the documentary. “He put his arm around her waist, put his hand on her shoulder and put his hand on her arm.”

“This would happen routinely. “It was always awkward.”

Bell says Peck eventually “gutted” his relationship with Joe, leaving him, then a vulnerable teenager, prey to the guardian’s perversions.

“Think about the worst thing someone could do to someone like sexual assault, and that will answer your question,” Bell says when asked. describe recidivism.

“It wasn’t a one-time thing,” he adds. “It just became this secret that I had held on to.”

“I didn’t know how to process it and that led to a lot of self-destruction and self-loathing,” Bell admits. “I would try to escape alcohol and substance abuse. Really anything to escape.”

After suffering in silence for months, Bell finally exposed Peck as her abuser in 2003.

In the documentary, the “Yours, Mine & Ours” star points out that Schneider was completely unaware of Peck’s wrongdoings against him until his arrest. Bell even acknowledges that Schneider was “the only” Hollywood executive who stood by him during the legal fallout that followed.

Following a court case in October 2004, during which Bell’s identity was protected under the pseudonym “John Doe”, Peck pleaded no contest to two counts of child sexual abuse.

A total of 41 celebrities, including James Marsden, Alan Thicke, Joanna Kearns and “Boy Meets World” stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle, reportedly issued written statements to the presiding judge, requesting that Peck receive probation instead of sentence. of jail.

Kearns has since recanted his support for Peck, according to the document. Strong and Friedle have also recently expressed remorse for being with Peck on a podcast.

Nickelodeon representatives told The Post: “Now that Drake Bell has revealed his identity as a plaintiff in the 2004 case, we are shocked and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength needed to move forward. ”

Peck ultimately received a sentence of 16 months behind bars and was ordered to register as a sex offender.

Jason Handy, a former production assistant on Schneider’s shows, was also arrested for committing lewd acts with children under 14 after sending naked photos of himself to a teenage extra on “The Amanda Show” and kissing a girl. 9 years old who starred in “Cousin Skeeter.”

Hearne and Samuels told The Post that recently learning that Bell was Peck’s victim brought them both to tears.

“We cried,” they both said.

“It was absolutely devastating,” Samuels continued. “That (Bell) was going through all that and then (had) to go back to work the next day. “I felt very sorry for him.”

Nick’s students consider themselves lucky to have narrowly escaped a similar fate, although Hearne recalls an inappropriate encounter with Peck that caused his mother, Tracey Brown, to lose her mind.

“We took a photo (and Peck) bit me on the head and called me his little chocolate chip,” the “Hardball” star said. “My mom was completely surprised and she said something. “She was very vocal.”

Hearne was eventually fired after just one season of “All That.” But he believes his mother’s fierce protectiveness protected him from awkward situations with both Peck and Schneider.

“There wasn’t much conversation between him and I,” Hearne said of his relationship with Schneider. “There was no closeness. He felt uncomfortable being his strange self around me (and) I felt good about that.

“I didn’t want to be around him.”

Those who were a little closer to Schneider, like former “All That” member Kyle Sullivan, say the show’s creator often pushed the boundaries of inappropriateness to the extreme in scripts.

“The show was full of awkward sketches,” Sullivan says in the doc. “I feel like Dan loved walking the line with that.”

Former “The Amanda Show” writer Christy Stratton says, “Working for Dan was like being in an abusive relationship.”

In the documentary, he and his former colleague Jenny Kilgen claim that Schneider forced them to engage in degrading antics such as shouting “I’m a whore” or pretending to be victims of sodomy in the writer’s bedroom.

Others claim that Schneider’s sexually suggestive directives in the scripts, which included toe sucking, face squirting, and crude breast jokes, along with her supposedly “volatile” mood swings, made the workplace unfriendly. traumatizing.

In a statement to documentary producers, Schneider says, “Everything that happened in the shows I directed was carefully vetted by dozens of adults involved.”

“Every day, on every set, there were always parents, caregivers and their friends watching us rehearse and film,” he added.

But Hearne and Samuels, both parents of separate offspring, are encouraging moms and dads to be overly protective of their little ones in the world of children’s entertainment.

“Parents, be present…don’t get caught up in the shine (of Hollywood),” Samuels urged.

“If you have that feeling, say something,” he continued.

“You’re going to protect your child in the long run and that’s what you need to do.”

“Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” premieres as a four-part series over two nights on ID Network. Part one will air on Sunday, March 17 at 9 pm ET, followed by part two on Monday, March 18 at 9 pm ET.