In 2004, Brian Peck pled “no contest” and was convicted and sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender. In “Quiet On Set,” Drake Bell spoke at length about what it was like to sit in court, looking not only his abuser in the eye but seeing numerous famous people who had shown up to support Peck. “His entire side of the courtroom was full. Full. There were definitely some recognizable faces on that side of the room, and my side was me, my mom, and my brother,” Bell recalled (via Investigation Discovery).
“Quiet On Set” revealed that stars like James Marsden, “Saturday Night Live” vet Taran Killam, “Boy Meets World” actor Rider Strong, and more wrote letters in support of Peck. Even Dan Schneider, who is accused of inappropriate behavior, has acknowledged how tough that experience was for Bell. “Of course Drake was devastated that that happened,” Schneider said in a video obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
Several of the letters have since been published by Yahoo! Marsden, for example, wrote, “I’ve known Brian for 14 years and never once did I ever see any sign of him being capable of something like this.” Strong and co-star Will Friedle addressed their letters on their podcast in 2024, claiming that they weren’t told of Peck’s actual crimes. “I just sat there wanting to die,” Friedle said (via Us Weekly). “It was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?'”
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