Will Friedle, Drake Bell. Getty Photographs(2)
Will Friedle claims he was unaware Drake Bell was Brian Peck’s sufferer on the time that the previous producer was dealing with eight counts of sexual abuse.
Within the Thursday, June 20, episode of his ”Pod Meets World” podcast, Friedle spoke for the primary time about his expertise main as much as and in the course of the 2003 trial. Friedle, 47, famous that he wrote a letter of help for Peck on the time, however claimed it was underneath the pretext that the then-unnamed sufferer was “nearly 18” and that it was a “one-time incident.”
It was not till he was within the courtroom and noticed Bell, whom he didn’t acknowledge, that he knew he had been lied to. (Friedle’s cohost and Boy Meets World costar Rider Robust additionally wrote a letter in help of Peck and in addition claimed to haven’t recognized Bell was the sufferer.)
“I’m sitting behind the courtroom,” Friedle recalled. “There’s no social media. I’m 26 years outdated on the time. I don’t watch Nickelodeon. I don’t know who Drake Bell is. I see a child stroll into the courtroom and I’m like, OK, I’ve been lied to. Mechanically I do know this.”
The dialog across the alleged poisonous work atmosphere at Nickelodeon could be getting began. Quiet on Set: The Darkish Facet of Youngsters TV, which aired in March on Investigation Discovery, coated producer Dan Schneider’s time on the community, with former little one stars and crew members recalling their experiences on the units of varied reveals […]
Years later, Friedle says the documentary Quiet on Set: The Darkish Facet of Youngsters TV, which was launched in March 2024, woke him as much as what really occurred. The Max docuseries delivered to gentle, amongst different issues, the character of Peck’s abuse in opposition to Bell.
“It’s going to be life-long processing for me. I knew I had been lied to and manipulated by Brian, primarily from the courtroom, however I didn’t understand how a lot till I noticed the documentary. After which I actually didn’t understand how a lot till I spoke with Drake,” Friedle mentioned.
Although Friedle and Bell labored collectively years in a while Final Spider-Man, Bell revealed within the documentary that he by no means acquired an apology.
On the podcast, Friedle and Robust each spoke about lastly getting in contact with Bell after the documentary aired. Robust reached out by way of Instagram DMs and talked to Bell over the telephone. After their dialog, Bell posted by way of X on April 5, “I simply had essentially the most wonderful dialog with @RiderStrong. We’re all therapeutic collectively. I’ve nothing however love and forgiveness for him.”
Whereas Hollywood could seem like all glitz and glam on the floor, the business has seen its fair proportion of scandals by way of the years. The New York Instances and the New Yorker first printed investigative items in 2017 that accused disgruntled film producer Harvey Weinstein of a long time of sexual assault and harassment. Quickly after, Weinstein stood trial and was […]
When Friedle and Bell had an opportunity to speak, Friedle reiterated that he didn’t know Bell was the one within the courtroom.
“We each talked about how comfortable we had been that was the case as a result of we had the most effective day working collectively,” he mentioned. “All I wished to do from the day in that courtroom was apologize to whoever was there. The concept that I discovered later that he was standing in entrance of me and I didn’t have that [chance] was nuts.”
From right here, Friedle indicated he would want to be taught from the expertise and do what he can to proceed making issues proper with Bell.
“There comes a degree the place it’s a must to take a look at your self and go, I’ve to be OK that I made an enormous mistake, that I owe this individual an infinite apology, that it’s not going to be sufficient and I’m going to spend a ton of time apologizing to this individual,” he mentioned. “You need to use that to maneuver on and change into a greater individual your self.”