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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Our full convo with Hutch can be heard on TMZ Verified, available on all podcast platforms. The Nickelodeon doc ‘Quiet On Set’ premieres on ID from 9 PM to 11 PM ET/PT on March 17 and March 18.
