Will Friedle and Rider Strong opened up about their mixed feelings about “Boy Meets World” guest star Brian Peck on a recent episode of their “Pod Meets World” podcast.
Friedl, Strong, and co-star Danielle Fishel decided to put Peck’s name on the table after being contacted for statements regarding Peck. This is likely due to the upcoming documentary series “Quiet on Set,” which details the child abuse that allegedly took place behind the scenes on several Nickelodeon shows. indicates.
Peck was accused of child sexual abuse in 2003 and later indicted on eight counts of sexual abuse. Peck was found guilty of indecency with a child and oral copulation of a person under 16 years of age and sentenced to 16 months in prison.
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Will Friedle (left) and Rider Strong (right) spoke about the difficult feelings surrounding their friendship with convicted child molester Brian Peck. (Getty Images)
“I was an adult and there was no way I could be manipulated like this,” Friedl said. “When I heard what happened, I had known this guy for years and of course I had no idea this was happening. I didn’t have the idea that when I was 24 or 25 now, when I was 24 or 25, I found out – I didn’t know, I couldn’t find out – it was my own failure. did. ”
Peck, then in his 40s, appeared in only two episodes of the teen sitcom, which aired on ABC from 1993 to 2000, but quickly became friends with both Friedl and Strong.
“After ‘Boy Meets World,’ I was working a lot and this guy was so ingrained in my life that after ‘Boy Meets World,’ I had him on three shows. ,” Friedl said. “This was the type of thing where he introduced people who were really good at their jobs and great, interesting people that you wanted to hang out with.”
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She added, “I saw him every day, we were together every day, we talked every day.”
Brian Peck was convicted in 2003 of lewd acts against a child and oral copulation of a person under the age of 16 and spent 16 months in prison. (Albert L. Ortega)
Cast members speculated that Peck, who is gay, might appear harmless to adults because of his age and sexuality.
“Some of them didn’t say, ‘This is the dividing line whether you’re gay or not. This is the dividing line between adults and children,’ for fear of being seen as homophobic.” “I guess so,” Fischel said.
Long after the show ended, Friedl recalled that Peck called her in tears when the sexual abuse allegations surfaced. Friedl recalled that Peck spun the story to show that it was “clearly the victim’s fault.”
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“At first, my instinct was, ‘My friend, that can’t be true. It’s probably the other person’s fault.’ What he’s saying makes perfect sense,” he said.
Ms. Strong remembers Peck admitting the crime, but carrying out the assault as if Peck were the victim.
Rider Strong (left) and Will Friedle appeared on “Boy Meets World” from 1993 to 2000. (Ron Galera)
“It’s always, ‘I did this, I’m guilty. I’m going to take whatever punishment the government decides, but I’m a victim of prison bait. There was this hot guy. I just did this. ‘ And he’s a minor. ’ And we bought that storyline,” Strong said.
Mr. Peck also asked Mr. Strong and Mr. Friedl to support Mr. Peck in court and write a letter supporting Mr. Peck to the judge. Friedl recalled one victim’s mother telling the court: “Look at all the celebrities you brought in and it doesn’t change what you did to my child.”
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Ms. Strong met Mr. Peck by chance at a party about seven years ago and felt “surprised” when Mr. Peck began talking to her as if they were old friends.
Friedl hasn’t seen Peck in 20 years, but she still regrets what she experienced as a bystander in Peck’s life.
Will Friedle (left) stars as Eric Matthews in “Boy Meets World,” along with (left to right) Ben Savage, Daniel Fishel, Rider Strong, and Matthew Lawrence. (Craig Sjodin)
“There are actual victims here, and he turned us against the victims to the point where now we’re on his team,” Strong said. “That’s what I look back on as my eternal shame for this whole thing.” [thing]. You would think it would be because you were young that you would be taken in by someone who is a great actor and manipulator, but that’s the reality. That’s terrible.
“I’m planning to use that experience to help me grow as a person, but when there’s actually a victim and you’re on the side of the perpetrator, it’s something you can’t recover from or overcome.” Overcome. “
The podcast ended on a note about continued conversation and hope for support for victims of manipulation and child grooming.
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