Drake Bell Slams ‘Boy Meets World’ Stars Will Friedle And Rider Strong For Supporting Abuser Brian Peck — Then Claiming They Were “Manipulated”

Drake Bell is putting Boy Meets World stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong on blast two decades after they wrote letters defending his abuser, former Nickelodeon dialogue and acting coach Brian Peck.

Friedle and Strong recently claimed they were manipulated into supporting Peck, who was ultimately sentenced to 16 months in prison for sexually assaulting Bell as a minor in 2004. While they expressed regret on their Pod Meets World podcast, former Nickelodeon star Alexa Nikolas took to Instagram today to criticize the actors for defending Peck in the first place and refusing to apologize directly to Bell, who wasn’t revealed as the victim until recently.

Underneath her post, one follower commented, “They were victims too. I listened to that entire podcast and they were manipulated by him just like anyone else. They feel awful. And they were minors. This isn’t black and white.”

However, the Drake & Josh star isn’t buying that Friedle and Strong were “manipulated.”

“Will was 27 years old and Brian told him what he did many people turned away and said no I won’t write a letter but they did,” Bell replied to the Instagram user. “Will was not manipulated. Brian admitted it to him and he wrote the letter anyway. Then he worked with me on many many episodes of [Ultimate Spider-Man] years later and never said a word to me about it.”

According to Bell, he believes Friedle and Strong are suddenly showing remorse to save face when ID’s new exposé docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV comes out next week.

“This is because they were told [their] letters are going to be made public,” he added. “Everyone thought the letters would be sealed forever and no one would ever see them. This is their publicist telling them how to get ahead of the story.”

In a separate comment, Bell claimed Strong was “24 years old when he wrote the letter and was told by Brian what he did” but “wrote the letter anyway,” per Page Six.

Bell opened up about the “extensive” and “brutal” abuse for the first time in the upcoming docuseries. He claimed he was only 15 years old when he woke up to Peck, then 43, sexually assaulting him.

“I was just trapped. I had no way out. The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal. I don’t know how to elaborate on that on camera, really,” Bell said, per Variety. “Why don’t you think of the worst stuff that someone could do to somebody as a sexual assault, and then I’ll answer your question. I don’t know how else to put it.”

Decider has reached out to reps for Strong and Friedle, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.