Drake Bell has blasted Nickelodeon over missing residual payments from his hit sitcom “Drake & Josh.”
The actor, 38, made the comments during a YouTube interview with streamer N3on that was published November 4. Over steaks at an American steakhouse, Bell discussed his teenage stardom and the financial reality that followed once the show wrapped in 2007.
“You get a weekly cheque, and that’s it,” he said. “That’s it. Unfortunately, no residuals and all that kind of stuff.”
N3on pressed Bell on whether skipping residuals was standard industry practice. “No,” Bell fired back. “It’s not normal.” He then added a pointed jab at his former employer: “Cause Nickelodeon sucks. Oh, can I not say that?”
Bell explained that residual deals are negotiated contract by contract, and that child actors often lack the leverage to demand better terms. “You don’t sign the contract, well, the next kid that gets off the Greyhound bus from Wichita, Kansas, he’ll take the job,” he shared. “There’s good and bad from it.” He noted the trade-offs of early fame, adding, “It’s like, well, I have the opportunity to now do things that I love to do, and [it] opens doors, and I have fans.”
The four-season run of “Drake & Josh,” which paired Bell with Josh Peck and Miranda Cosgrove, remains his most recognizable work. Yet his association with the network has become deeply complicated by the abuse he says he suffered there.
In the 2024 Investigation Discovery docuseries “Quiet on Set,” Bell identified himself as the previously unnamed child victim of dialogue coach Brian Peck. The coach, who is not related to Josh Peck, worked on Nickelodeon’s “All That” and “The Amanda Show.” Brian Peck was arrested in August 2003 on 11 charges related to allegations of sexual abuse of a child. He pleaded no contest in May 2004 to performing a lewd act with a 14-or-15-year-old and oral copulation with a minor under 16, and was sentenced to 16 months in prison and sex offender registration in October 2004.
Bell revisited the trauma earlier this year on the “Good Guys” podcast with Josh Peck. He described feeling safe among his castmates but said Brian Peck had invaded that security. “He was the ‘monster’ in my ‘safe place’,” Bell said.
The residual complaints add a financial grievance to Bell’s broader critique of child stardom, which he has increasingly addressed in public forums. His candor about both economic and personal harm has made him a prominent voice among former child actors re-examining their early careers.
Bell’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Paramount Press Express had not commented at the time of the interview’s release.
Bell is scheduled to continue his “Highway to Nowhere” concert tour with upcoming performances in Texas.