(Content warning: Child abuse and sexual assault)
On March 17, Investigation Discovery released the highly-anticipated docu-series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. It chronicles alleged abuse and child neglect that occurred at Nickelodeon on shows like Zoey 101, Drake and Josh, and The Amanda Show. One of the most damning and talked about interviews in the series was with Drake Bell, a child star and musician who worked with the network in the 90s and 2000s.
In the show, Drake Bell shared that he was a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck. In 2003, police arrested Peck and convicted him of “Lewd Acts with a Child,” serving a 16-month prison sentence.
Over the past few years, public sentiment had shifted against Drake Bell. In 2021, Bell pled guilty to “attempted endangering of children” and “disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.” The victim was 15 when she filed a report at her local Canadian police station in 2018. Since then, she worked with the state of Ohio.
The investigation revealed Bell had been talking to the victim since she was 12. He then sent her messages of a sexual nature at age 15. Once he found out her age, the defense claims he stopped engaging with her, telling to to quote, “Hurry up.”
But according to the victim’s statement read at the hearing, she claimed Bell was aware of her age when he sent her these “blatantly sexual messages.” She also alleged he sent her images “of his body and his genitals.” She further claimed that at an October 2017 concert, he had her “perform oral sex” on him while her aunt waited outside the room, unaware.
Drake Bell said in an Instagram video after the trial that the claims of sexual assault “are false.” He added, “If these were remotely true, my situation would be very different.” Still, the allegations he did plead guilty to were damning enough for many onlookers to have their opinions soured of their childhood star.
But after the success of the Quiet on Set docu-series, which reached 16 million viewers and is getting a fifth episode, Bell is using this momentum to shift the narrative. The day after the docu-series premiered, Bell released a music video on YouTube for his song “I Kind of Relate.” In the video, actors reenact moments from Bell’s past.
At the end of the music video, which has over 1.4 million views, there is an embedded thumbnail of a video titled, “Matt Wallace EXPOSES FAKE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST DRAKE BELL!” For those unfamiliar with YouTube editing, for this video to appear, Bell or someone from his team had to intentionally edit the thumbnail into the end screen.
Drake Bell also sent the Matt Wallace video to the Twitter account Rich Clarkophile. On March 20, after the release of Quiet on Set, Clarkophile posted a viral thread about the allegations against Bell. In the thread, they resurfaced the underage victim’s statement.
According to messages confirmed by Passionfruit, Bell then sent Clarkophile a link to Wallace’s video on X. Bell added the ominous message: “Witnesses…”
“I think Drake sent me that video to make me doubt his victim,” Clarkophile told Passionfruit. “I think he also wanted to intimidate me by letting me know that he’s seen my posts about him.” …
