Drake Bell’s Father Says He Was Accused of Being ‘Homophobic’ for Expressing Concern Over Child Molester Brian Peck at Nickelodeon

HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 18: Actors Josh Peck (L) and Drake Bell host the Hollywood Radio a
Vince Bucci/Getty Images
Alana Mastrangelo

Joe Bell, the father of former child actor and Drake & Josh star Drake Bell, said a Nickelodeon employee accused him of being “homophobic” for expressing concern over convicted child molester Brian Peck, who worked as a dialogue coach at the company.

In Investigation Discovery’s recently released Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV documentary, Drake Bell’s father recalled being accused of homophobia after telling a Nickelodeon production crew member that he was “very uncomfortable with this guy, Brian Peck, always being around my son.”

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“And she just goes, ‘Oh, well, I don’t know if you knew it or not, but he’s gay, maybe you’re just homophobic and you just don’t understand that he’s a touchy-feely guy,'” Joe Bell recalled.

“So, I said, ‘Okay,’ and then it just kept not sitting well with me, so I told people on the set, and I was ostracized,” Joe Bell added.

Elsewhere in the docuseries, Drake Bell’s father said that he “was very attentive” on the Nickelodeon set, and made sure to be “somewhere where I could always keep my eyes on Drake.”

“And, unfortunately, I started seeing Brian start to just hang around Drake too much, and it didn’t sit well with me,” he said.

Joe Bell recalled seeing Peck “touch Drake” in the dressing room, prompting the father to reply with comments like, “Wait a second, what are you doing? Drake can put that on himself.”

“And the thing is, this is in front of people,” Joe Bell said.

“Then he’d maybe walk over to Drake and be feeding him some lines or whatever, and put his arm around his waist, put his hand up on his shoulder and kind of run it down his arm — things like that,” the father added. “This would happen routinely.”

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Peck was eventually arrested in 2003 on 11 charges involving child sexual abuse. He pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with an anonymous 14 or 15 year old, as well as to oral copulation with a minor under 16.

The former Nickelodeon dialogue coach was then convicted of sexually abusing an unnamed child actor and sentenced to 16 months in prison. Peck was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

For 20 years, the unnamed Nickelodeon child actor remained anonymous — until it was revealed in the Quiet on Set docuseries in March.

Drake Bell said in the documentary that he called his father in 2003 to tell him that Peck had been arrested for child molestation.

“And my dad just goes, ‘I am so glad that he was not able to get his hands on you,'” the former child actor said.

The former child star, however, added that he didn’t have the heart to tell his dad that he was Peck’s victim in the case.

“My dad is very emotional — and I just couldn’t [tell him],” Drake Bell said. “So I just said, ‘Yeah, they got him.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I’m so glad. I knew he was gonna do something to someone.'”

After being asked how he felt upon finding out that his son had been Peck’s victim, a tearful Joe Bell said, “Are you kidding? I’m not the same today. The pain is still there from the moment that I knew.”

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“I don’t wish this on any parent or child whatsoever,” he added. “It’s just devastating.”

As Breitbart News reported, Quiet on Set contained a slew of shocking revelations about the toxic culture of iconic children’s television shows in the 1990s and early 2000s at Nickelodeon and executive Dan Schneider.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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