Mark-Paul Gosselaar — who rose to fame as a teen actor in the ’80s — feels terrible for the ’90s Nickelodeon stars who were allegedly mistreated by the network when they were kids.
“I feel really, really awful for them having gone through that,” the “Saved by the Bell” alum exclusively told Page Six at the Entertainment Community Fund, formerly known as The Actors Fund, on Monday night.
Gosselaar, 50, has not seen the new bombshell documentary “Quiet on Set,” which details the dark side of working at Nickelodeon during that time period, but stressed that he had a very different experience as a teen star.
“I couldn’t relate because that’s not how our set was run at all,” he said of “Saved by the Bell,” which ran from 1989 to 1992 and starred Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies and Tiffani Thiessen.
“As a cast, I think we’re all pretty unscathed in a way,” he explained. “We had good family, good producers protecting us, good teachers, so I feel awful that anyone had to go through that, especially children.
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“The only thing I can say from my experience is I was very aware of it being a business and people will do anything for the bottom line at times,” he added.
“Quiet on the Set” chronicled allegations of sexism, racism and bullying on the sets of hugely popular ’90s kids shows like “Zoey 101,” “All That” and “Drake & Josh.”
Drake Bell, who rose to fame on “The Amanda Show” before starring on “Drake & Josh,” came forward in the documentary to reveal he had been sexually assaulted by his former dialogue coach Brian Peck.
Bell, 37, shared that the abuse happened shortly after meeting Peck, 63, on Season 2 of “The Amanda Show” in 2000.
Three years later, Peck was arrested on multiple charges relating to sexual assault, and the following year he was convicted of sexually abusing a then-unidentified child actor — now confirmed to be Bell — and served 16 months in prison.
Dan Schneider, who created and oversaw many of the shows, was also scrutinized for his behavior.
In a groveling video, Schneider, 58, later said that he was embarrassed and regretful and “I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”
Nickelodeon cut ties with Schneider in 2018 amid allegations that he was “under a cloud of suspicion over the treatment of some younger stars of his shows.” The producer walked away with a $7 million payout.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
