Josh Peck has offered his support to “survivors who were brave enough to share their stories of emotional and physical abuse on Nickelodeon sets” following allegations made in a new documentary series.
The US actor, who starred in Nickelodeon’s popular sitcom Drake & Josh alongside Drake Bell, had been criticised online over his alleged “silence” after Bell appeared in the documentary alleging he was a victim of sexual assault while working at Nickelodeon.
Peck, who recently appeared in Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning biopic Oppenheimer, said he “took a few days to process” the documentary titled Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV, which aired on the US streaming platform Max.
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“I reached out to Drake (Bell) privately, but wanted 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,” Peck said on Instagram.
“Children should be protected.
“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.”
It comes after former Nickelodeon executive producer Dan Schneider addressed claims made in the documentary about his behaviour during his long tenure on the TV channel.
The four-part series made claims about a toxic environment for child actors and crews on Nickelodeon programmes that Schneider created, including The Amanda Show, iCarly, Victorious, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and Sam & Cat.
In an interview posted on his YouTube channel, Schneider said the documentary had been “very difficult, me facing my past behaviours, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret”.
“I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” he said.
Schneider is said to have launched the careers of child actors who became major stars, including Miranda Cosgrove, Jamie Lynn Spears and Ariana Grande.
Allegations levelled at Schneider included his tolerance of toxic workplace conditions and alleged torment and humiliation of cast and crew on his TV sets.
“I hate that anybody worked for me and didn’t have a good time,” he said.
Schneider also addressed allegations that he asked crew members to massage him on set, saying: “It was wrong.”
