Former Nickelodeon writer and producer Dan Schneider got emotional while discussing Brian Peck’s sexual abuse of an underage Drake Bell. sexual abuse of an underage Drake Bell. Remembering how he assisted the mother of the star of “Drake & Josh” in writing a statement for the 2004 trial that resulted in the conviction of the production assistant, the troubled figure in children's entertainment became teary-eyed.
“That was probably the darkest part of my career,” Schneider said in an interview posted Tuesday.
Since the release of the four-part documentary series “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of TV” by Investigations Discovery, Schneider’s name and the allegations of the harmful work environment he fostered have been widely discussed.
In an attempt to present his perspective on the numerous accusations against him in the docuseries, he sat down for an interview on his YouTube page. sat down for an interview on his YouTube page DanWarp with Bobby “BooG!e” Bowman, who played T-Bo on Nickelodeon’s “iCarly,” a show Schneider created.
When the topic of Bell came up about 14 minutes into the below video, Schneider first maintained he had nothing to do with the hiring of Peck and was distraught when he learned he’d sexually assaulted Bell.
“When Drake and I talked and he told me what had happened, I was more devastated by that than anything that ever happened in my career thus far,” Schneider said. “I told him, ‘I’m here for you. What do you need?’ which Drake mentioned in the show last night that we watched last night.”
Bell, who participated in the “Quiet On Set” docuseries, did note that Schneider was there for him after he told the Nickelodeon exec about the abuse. Schneider discussed how “devastated” Drake was when he saw the amount of people standing behind Peck during the trial.
“A lot of them pretty famous. Of course Drake was devastated that that happened, and even more disappointing,” Schneider said. “Forty-one of those people wrote letters for Peck — character letters for Peck, praising him for who he was and asking for leniency, and they knew that he was guilty, they knew that he confessed to some degree and they still did this. It’s baffling that adults would do that.”
He then went on to share that he and Bell’s mother still keep in contact and he helped pen her court speech for the trial.
“I don’t know if people know this, but Drake’s mom — lovely woman, who I stay in contact till this day — she came to me at the time and she said, ‘Dan, I’m not good with words like you are. Would you help me with my speech for the judge?’ I said, ‘Of course.’ And I did,” Schneider said, beginning to cry.
“[Peck] ended up going to prison and serving his time. And yeah, that was probably the darkest part of my career,” Schneider continued, adding that even after Peck’s crimes were revealed, Hollywood continued to hire him.
“Here’s the kicker that I really don’t get: After he got out of prison and — to my knowledge — a registered sex offender, he was hired on a Disney Channel show. I don’t understand that.”
In 2004, Peck was sentenced to 16 months in prison after he was arrested in August 2003 on 11 sexual abuse charges related to the sexual abuse of an unnamed child, which was revealed to be Bell in “Quiet on Set.” He was ordered to register as a sex offender in October 2004.
“Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” focuses on accusations of harmful and unhealthy behavior by long-serving Nickelodeon producer and screenwriter Schneider. The show premiered over two nights on ID, starting on Sunday and ending on Monday.
Click here for a more detailed explanation of the events depicted in the show. You can also watch Schneider’s complete follow-up interview in the video below.
