While Drake Bell was living through a nightmare at Nickelodeon — another fellow child star from a competing network says the Mouse House protected him during his own run.
TMZ.com
Hutch Dano — an actor who appeared in “The Suite Life on Deck” and “Zeke and Luther” in his youth — sat down for an interview with TMZ Verified this week … and he told us he never experienced any abuse while working for Disney, unlike Drake at Nick.
Dano says his heart goes out to the victims of abuse — including Drake — but he himself was never one of them … something he says he’d absolutely admit if there was any truth to it.
HD described what his experience was like on set as a kid — telling us he only worked with some of the best professionals in the biz on every project, adding he felt Disney did a good job keeping its actors safe. It’s not a dig … Dano’s just recounting his own experience.
HD says he considers himself lucky — as others in his position were obviously subjugated to terrible things … and big picture, he says he’s happy this issue is being brought to the light.
As we reported Drake is set to recount what happened between him and his one-time dialogue coach Brian Peck … who was convicted of molesting Drake in the early 2000s. The full interview sharing Drake’s story will air in full later this weekend … and it’s apparently brutal.
As you may know, Peck pled no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14 or 15-year-old and to oral copulation with a 16-year-old back in 2004 — and Drake reveals the guy even had a lot of stars step up to bat for him and his character, both in person and in letters.
Our full convo with Hutch can be heard on TMZ Verified starting at midnight. The Nickelodeon doc ‘Quiet On Set’ premieres on ID from 9 PM to 11 PM ET/PT on March 17 and March 18.