Joe Bell, father of child actor Drake Bell, said he was accused of being “homophobic” when he sounded the alarm about the way child sex offender Brian Peck purportedly treated his son.
Drake said he was abused by Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck, a registered sex offender who was convicted of sexual assault in 2004, according to Today. Drake and Joe recalled their stories in “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” which premiered Mar. 17 as a four-part docu-series.
Joe said Peck was “around Drake too much, and it didn’t sit well with me.” When Joe aired his concerns, production staff allegedly insisted Peck’s behavior was normal. Joe said they told him he might’ve just been “homophobic” and accused him of not understanding that Peck was just “a touchy-feely guy.”
Joe Bell began to notice things about Brian Peck
Join us tonight for night 2 of #QuietOnSet 9/8c on ID or @StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/4Mc8d1O4mA— Investigation Discovery (@DiscoveryID) March 18, 2024
Joe said he intuitively knew there was something wrong with Peck’s interactions with his son, but he was blamed for not understanding Peck’s demeanor.
He went on to say, “Drake would be in the dressing room or something, and in would pop Brian, and just touch Drake, you know, do things that, wait a second. What are you doing? Drake can put that on himself.”
Joe said Peck would “maybe walk over to Drake and be feeding him some lines,” then would “put his arm around his waist. Put his hand up on his shoulder, and kinda run it down his arm, and things like that.”
For the first time, Drake Bell of Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh, will speak publicly about being repeatedly molested by dialogue coach Brian Peck when he was a child in the upcoming docuseries, Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. It will also uncover the toxic and dangerous… pic.twitter.com/fkhxSABimG
— Investigation Discovery (@DiscoveryID) March 14, 2024
“And this would happen routinely. It was just always uncomfortable,” he said.
Joe said he told the production staff that he was “very uncomfortable with this guy, Brian Peck,” for lingering around his son, and noted he didn’t “have a good feeling.”
Drake Bell attends the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 27, 2017 in Inglewood, California. Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Actor/musician Drake Bell attends the 23rd Annual Time for Heroes Celebrity Picnic to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation at Wadsworth Theater on June 3, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images
Actor Drake Bell arrives at the 1st Annual Teen People “Young Hollywood” Issue party held on August 7, 2004. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Drake said Peck tried to set him against his father and use his parents’ strained relationship as a way to influence him and intercept Joe’s suspicions. Drake claimed Peck was able to convince his mother to let him stay at his house and drive him to auditions, which reportedly led to unsupervised time alone. This is when the sexual abuse began, Drake said, according to Coming Soon.
Actor Drake Bell poses during the 2008 Teen Choice Awards at Gibson Amphitheater on August 3, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
“I opened my eyes, I woke up, and he was, he was sexually assaulting me. And I froze and was in complete shock, and had no idea what to do, or how to react,” Drake said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.(RELATED: ‘Boy Meets World’ Stars Rider Strong And Will Friedle Say They Were Groomed By Fellow Actor)
Peck pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14 or 15-year-old and to oral copulation with a minor under 16, according to Coming Soon. He served a 16-month jail term before being released as a registered sex offender.