“Growing Pains” star Kirk Cameron said the “dark,” “evil” and “twisted” revelations we’ve seen in the “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” docuseries have “been going on for a long time” in Hollywood.
Speaking to The Daily Wire, the 53-year-old actor said as a child working in Hollywood he definitely witnessed the “disturbing” behavior by those in the business, including his former personal dialogue coach on “Growing Pains” Brian Peck, the convicted sex offender named in the series. Peck was arrested, charged with sexual abuse crimes, and ordered to register as a sex offender, as previously reported.
“So, the evil, the darkness, the twisted sickness of Hollywood has been going on for a long time,” Cameron told us. “I started acting when I was 9-years-old. I began ‘Growing Pains’ at 14-years-old. And I was suspicious that that stuff was going on behind the curtains even when I was working on ‘Growing Pains.’”
“And there were several young boys like us [Cameron and Leonardo DiCaprio] that he [Peck] interacted with on a regular basis,” Cameron said. “So, it’s shocking. It’s sickening.
In one of the episodes of the shocking documentary — which alleges abuse and a toxic work environment behind the scenes at Nickelodeon — a clip played from “Growing Pains” showing a young DiCaprio with Peck constantly rubbing the young star’s arms and touching him. Cameron said that’s exactly how he recalled Peck behaving and just remembered “that’s the kind of thing you would see and make you pause and go ‘there’s a little flag on the field,’ but not enough to prove something worse.”
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The Hollywood star shared that at the same time he worked on “Growing Pains” (1985 – 1992) with Peck, the executive producer and showrunner was Steven Marshall. In 2010, Marshall was arrested and convicted for possession and distribution of child pornography, the New York Post reported.
He served 7½ years in federal prison after he was arrested by an undercover federal agent who was posing as a pedophile. In Marshall’s chats with the agent, the former TV producer would brag about “child abduction, bondage, rapes and murders,” the outlet noted. It came out later in court that the exec. producer never actually had “physical contact” with any of the kids he bragged about doing vile things to, Cameron noted.
“Thank God I got out of there unscathed in the 1980s,” Cameron said. “Those people who did this stuff to these kids are the same kind of people in the industry today. Still making twisted, sick, perverted material that’s hurting children today. And they need to be completely rooted out and replaced.”
“But it’s too late,” Cameron continued. “These children, like Drake Bell … they have scars that they will carry with them permanently throughout their life.”
Cameron also mentioned he recently spoke with former producers and writers of the show about working with Peck and Marshall, recalling their behavior on set.
“And the consensus was these individuals were charming, they ingratiated themselves into their victims’ lives and were generally likable people when they were putting the ‘nice guy’ face on,” Cameron said.
“But there was … always something smarmy about them,” he added. “You know it was like your ‘Spidey-senses’ told you something’s not right. They were handsy and physical in a smarmy kind of way. But not so overt that you could totally detect what was happening.”
Cameron said he “absolutely” credited his parents with keeping him safe in the predatory environment, adding, “My mom was on the set every day when I was a minor on ‘Growing Pains.’” He also credited his former “cast and crew” who served as additional sets of “guardians.”
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When asked if he thinks Hollywood protects the predator instead of the survivor, the longtime actor said what we are seeing now “ … is an industry that tries to indemnify, exonerate the very pedophiles that we say we want to get rid of, because they are the pedophiles.”
When asked about the letters of support written in defense of Peck by his former on-screen parents, Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns, Cameron noted, “Nobody wants to believe that the fun, charming, dialogue coach who’s ingratiated himself into the lives of others — almost to the point of being a trusted family friend — would do something so wicked and evil.”
The letters were used by Peck’s attorneys before he was convicted of sexually assaulting a minor. Kearns has since walked back her letter of support. Thicke, however, passed away in 2016.
Following the documentary’s release, former child star Bell came forward and said he was the John Doe from a sexual abuse case from 2004 involving former Nickelodeon dialogue coach Peck. Peck pleaded no contest to the charges, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and ordered to register as a sex offender, as The Daily Wire previously reported.
Docuseries contributors also spoke frequently about former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider, who they said perpetrated abuse by acting in a controlling manner and making sexually suggestive jokes, some of which were used in children’s programming. They also alleged that Schneider was filmed in a hot tub with then-16-year-old actress Amanda Bynes.
“I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” Schneider said in a statement following the release of “Quiet on Set.”
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The “Lifemark” star talked about the massive increase in LGBTQ programming targeting children from places like Disney, Cartoon Network and Netflix, and said they are no longer hiding their agenda.
“Openly sharing their agenda … giddy with excitement trying to add as much ‘queerness’ to their content as they can over time,” the actor said. “Before it was sort of hidden, under the radar. But now it’s wide open. They’ve gotten themselves intoxicated with their own perversion and they are so drunk on it that they don’t even know what’s wrong.”
Cameron said he “one hundred percent” thinks the lack of faith in Hollywood led to the darkness.
“The problem is when you take God out of Hollywood or politics they become corrupted.”
It is those experiences the actor went through and the things he’s learned since about the people he worked with that he said motivates him to be part of the solution, to create a safe working environment for kids and children’s programming like he had when he was growing up.
That’s why I’m working with Brave Americans saying ‘we’re not waiting for Hollywood to get it right,’” the “Fireproof” actor said. “We need to make this stuff ourselves.”
“God has exposed them,” he added. “He’s drug the evil out into the middle of the street in broad daylight and this is the time for brave Americans to take charge of their children’s entertainment and their education and start doing something about it.”
The longtime actor said he wants this to “… be a wakeup call, an incredible opportunity for parents and grandparents … to be the executive producer of our children’s future. Our generation’s version of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” with his current project. More information can be found here.
“I want to give them something to remind them what good wholesome family entertainment is like and what parents are looking for and children need.”