Drake Bell spoke to and forgives Rider Strong

[pepsi_twist9]

I just had the most amazing conversation with @RiderStrong we are all healing together. I have nothing but love and forgiveness for him.
- DrakeBell.ethᵍᵐ (@DrakeBell) April 5, 2024

As a follow-up to this post Drake has tweeted that he did speak to Rider and that he forgives them. No word on Will Friedle

Source: Twitter

Comments

[analievelyn]

Forgives them for defending him in court?

Can someone summarize the timeline for me

[green_monsterx]

Brian Peck was also employed on BMW and was close with Will & Rider. They would hang out all the time outside of the job, remained friends with the show ended, etc. In 2003, I think, was the court case against Brian Peck for what he did to Drake Bell (unnamed until the documentary). Rider, who was 24 at the time, and Will (27), wrote letters in support of Peck and sat on his side of the courtroom during the case. They did an hour long podcast about it before the documentary and the crux of it was that they didn't know the full charges he was accused of, that Peck admitted that he had relations with Drake, but that it was consensual and basically he used the "jailbait" reasoning and the two of them believed their friend. Will told a story on the podcast where at the trial, Drake's mom turned around and said something along the lines of, "Look at all your famous friends you brought here. It still doesn't change what you did to my son

[skyler_white_yo]

I thought Rider has back tracked? Guess not. Gross.

[green_monsterx]

I'm sure he has - i listened to the episode once when it aired, i think in february?, and i just remember being grossed out that while on one hand he WAS saying he regretted it and it was wrong, but on the other hand, he still seemed like he wanted to protect Brian Peck and it was just not good

edit: Drake had even commented specifically singling Rider out on a post Alexa Nikolas made about it

[bigirons]

who gives a fuck? i knew drake when he was running around with brian setzer and he's always been a predatory asshole. it sucks what he went through but it doesn't excuse all of the awful shit he's done as an adult and i am disgusted everyone is givin him a pass to rewrite the narrative

[pepsi_twist9]

It is a weird cultural shift. 100% this shouldn't have happened to him but it's weird he's getting a redemption story since none of the news outlets have mentioned his own sexual predatory behaviour.

[healthypanda]

I'm glad he's been able to talk about what he went through and have people believe him now. But I also wish the documentary did hand wave the allegations against him away either. They are so much worse than how it was presented in the documentary.

[queencersi]

Agreed!

He should not have gone through what he did as a child, but it does not excuse his behavior as an adult. People have begun attacking his victims and accusing them of lying.

It's infuriating tbh.

[peddlestools]

has James Marsden said anything? him writing a character letter for a pedophile was a shock

[skyler_white_yo]

I haven’t seen anything from him. Which really disappoints me, because he seemed like a decent guy.

[peddlestools]

I feel like he would have at least posted a notes app apology by now

[richyrich909]

Not a peep. Joanna Kerns came out with quickness though and explained she was mislead.

[zibbydoo324]

This is wonderful for Rider and I’m so proud of Drake for this. I cannot imagine what the burden of all this has been for Drake. Carrying this around for the last 20 years by himself. I imagine it felt lighter after this conversation. I feel like forgiveness is so important with healing yourself.

[mayjailer]

expressing pride in an abuser/groomer is a choice

[zibbydoo324]

K

[bodyline]

that’s great but how’s the girl that you assaulted, drake? is she healing?