Drake Bell, an actor from popular young adult television shows like “Drake and Josh,” is coming forward as the 15-year-old boy who was molested by Hollywood acting coach Brian Peck, a convicted sex offender who was allowed to continue working in entertainment after serving time in prison.
Bell is set to expose the story of his sexual abuse in the upcoming docuseries Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV produced by Investigation Discovery. According to its official description, the show will reveal “the toxic and dangerous culture behind some of the most iconic children’s shows of the late 1990s and early 2000s,” with particular focus on children’s network Nickelodeon under producer Dan Schneider.
🔥🚨BREAKING NEWS: Drake Bell said he was sexually abused at 15 by Nickelodeon’s dialog coach Brian Peck who worked on Drake & Josh tv show.
This will premiere on the upcoming March 17th documentary “Quiet on Set” that will expose Nickelodeon. 2024 is the year of revelations. pic.twitter.com/Zyfg7ShfXR
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) March 6, 2024
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Until now, it was not known who the victim in Peck’s sexual assault case was, as the name was replaced with the pseudonym “John Doe” to protect their identity.
It has been known by the media since at least 2015 that Peck (no relation to Josh Peck, Bell’s Nickelodeon costar) was a convicted sex offender. Peck was featured in a 2014 documentary called “An Open Secret” about actors who were molested as young boys by grown men in the movie industry. As The Daily Mail reported at the time, Peck was not banned from Hollywood show business despite his past crimes, being allowed to perform in “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and “Jack and the Beanstalk” and chum around with Charlie Sheen.
Peck was said to have molested the victim during a private coaching session at their house. He was arrested at the time after the victim’s parents contacted law enforcement, and court filings show Peck was charged with 11 counts—including “lewd act upon a child,” “sodomy of a person under 16,” “attempted sodomy of a person under 16,” “sexual penetration by foreign object,” “four counts of oral copulation of a person under 16,” “oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance,” “sending harmful matter,” and “using a minor for sex acts.”
Ultimately all counts were dismissed except two—”lewd act against a child” and “oral copulation”—to which he pleaded “no contest” and was found guilty of both. They say Peck:
Willfully, unlawfully, and lewdly commit a lewd and lascivious act upon and with the body of John Doe, who was 15 years old, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passions, and sexual desires of the defendant, who was at least 10 years older than John Doe.
Did unlawfully, being over the age of 21 years, participate in an act of oral copulation with John Doe, a person under the age of sixteen years.
Peck was convicted in 2004 and served 16 months in jail, but was able to resume his career in Hollywood immediately afterward. To make matters worse, he was only barred from being in direct contact with children, but not from working with them on set. After serving in prison, he worked on a Disney show (Suite Life) as well as “Queerantine!,” a movie set in a high school, the film credits of which say he played a Sex Ed teacher…
In June 2021, Drake Bell himself pleaded guilty to a felony charge of “attempted child endangerment” and a misdemeanor charge of “disseminating matter harmful to juveniles” related to his relationship with a 15-year-old girl who attended one of his concerts in 2017.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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