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Topics: US News, Crime, News, Celebrity, TV And Film
Rhianna Benson
Topics: US News, Crime, News, Celebrity, TV And Film
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
Drake Bell has this week issued a statement against Hollywood.
The former Drake & Josh star took to social media on Thursday (19 February), where he accused film and television bosses of allowing individuals that are known to have defended sex offenders to be cast in shows.
As per TMZ, 38-year-old Bell, took specific aim at Taran Killam - an actor and comedian known for his roles on Saturday Night Live - in a fiery Instagram post he subsequently deleted.
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In the Instagram upload - obtained by the entertainment news outlet prior to its removal - the former child star shared a photograph of his own television screen, which was airing a show in which Killam, 42, stars.
Bell captioned the upload: "Write a letter defending an abuser and Hollywood will always hire you."
Whilst he didn't explicitly explain so, it is likely that Bell is referencing the sexual abuse allegations that were previously brought against ex-dialogue coach Brian Peck.
Peck was arrested in 2003 for sexually abusing Bell while the pair worked on The Amanda Show together when the latter was 14 or 15, and served 16 months in prison in 2004.
He was also ordered to register as a sex offender.
Bell wasn't revealed as the abuse survivor until March 2024, however, when Investigation Discovery interviewed Bell for the documentary series Quirt On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.
Prior to Peck's sentencing, however, 41 of his friends and family - including numerous A-listers - wrote a letter to the presiding judge defending the convicted criminal.
Amongst them were Hairspray actor James Marsden, Alan Thicke, Boy Meets World stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong, and former SNL regular Taran Killam.
Though several of Peck's former big-name supporters - Joanna Kerns, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle, Rich Correll, Tom DeSanto - subsequently apologised for their mistake, Killam has never addressed the letter he wrote.
The Investigation Discovery documentary also shed light on wider allegations made previously by a plethora of child stars, who claimed to have been both emotionally and physically abused by adults working at the TV channel Nickelodeon.
Amongst those to have been placed under serious scrutiny was Dan Schneider, famed for producing the likes of teenage sitcom hits Drake and Josh and Zoey 101.
Schneider has since filed a defamation lawsuit against the documentary.
Tyla has contacted Taran Killam for comment.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.