For those quick to throw stones at Drake & Josh's Josh Peck for not immediately publicly responding to the horrid sexual abuses suffered by his co-star Drake Bell as a teen on the Nickelodeon series, he took to social media Thursday to offer an explanation that puts his rationale in context — he needed time to process the tragic revelations.

“I finished the Quiet On Set documentary and took a few days to process it,” Peck began his post on Instagram.

“I reached out to Drake privately, but want to give my support for the survivors who were brave enough to share their stories of emotional and physical abuse on Nickelodeon sets with the world,” he continued.

“Children should be protected,” Peck added. “Reliving this publicly is incredibly difficult, but I hope it can bring healing for the victims and their families as well as necessary change to our industry.”

 

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The response is an honest and raw reminder in the instant-answer age of social media that traumatic events like this take time to come to terms with and address, and the lack of an instantaneous public response does not equate to a lack of empathy for the victim.

Drake Bell defends Josh Peck

Drake Bell‘s earlier response defending his co-star Josh Peck echoed the same themes.

“I just want to clear something up,” Bell said in a TikTok post. “I just want to let you guys know that this is really, you know, processing this and going through this is a really, emotional time and a lot of it’s very, very difficult. So not everything is put out to the public.”

He continued, “But I just want you guys to know that he has reached out to me and it’s been very sensitive. But he has reached out to to talk with me and help me work through this. And has been really, really great. So just wanted to let you guys know that and to take it a little easy on him.”

@drakebell♬ I kind of relate – Drake Bell

The online attacks on Josh Peck seemed to have sprung from a few misconceptions. First, there was a mistaken assumption that Peck was related to Brian Peck, the dialogue coach who perpetrated the abuse on Drake Bell, and who was subsequently convicted of a lewd act against a child and oral copulation of a person under 16, and spent 16 months in prison.

The second source of anger from Drake & Josh fans seems to have been Josh Peck's admission on a 2022 podcast that his friendship with Drake Bell had fizzled in recent years.

On Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards' BFFs podcast, Peck admitted, “We were kids, right? Obviously, there were times when we were closer than not, but when inevitably the show ended – I mean, we’re just totally different kids.”

“Drake & Josh is something I’ll be synonymous with forever and I’m proud of it,” he continued. “And I want to like the guy that my name is attached to forever, but unfortunately, it just sort of worked out the way that it did.”

Those who found fault with Josh Peck for not maintaining an off-camera friendship years later with his Drake & Josh co-star Drake Bell may need to look in the mirror and ask themselves how many friendships from their teenaged years they still maintain.

Drake Bell revealed that he was the teen abused by Brian Peck in the new four-part Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which is currently the most-streamed show on Max.

The outpouring of reactions to the documentary have been largely supportive of the victims, but the public demands for instant answers from all parties involved just isn't fair or realistic. This is a very difficult situation for everyone involved, and everyone is processing it and responding at their own pace. Hopefully fans will take the answers from Josh Peck and Drake Bell to heart and give the Nickelodeon stars the time and space they need right now.