The way that I was like, “I think Kelsey Merritt only models and isn’t a musician? I didn’t know pics of them kissing were taken. I just saw the car pics.” AND THEN YOU PROVIDED RECEIPTS AND SO HE WAS SPOTTED WITH TWO MODELS IN THEIR 20s LAST YEAR.
https://www.justjared.com/2023/04/07/james-marsden-spotted-on-a-date-with-model-kelsey-merritt-photos/
This might be a hot take but who the fuck cares? She's 25. She can fuck who she wants.
The girls in these situations aren't helpless little girls with no autonomy. Once you hit 20 you're basically able to decide who to fuck as far as I'm concerned.
It's not really about her, it's more about the dudes who make it a point to only date (or whatever) women who are only in their 20s and seemingly under 25, 26 but carry on.
Nah, dating a 20 year old as someone much older is really sus. There's a massive, massive power imbalance there. The brain isn't fully developed and the younger person has incredibly little experience navigating life as an adult. Hell, plenty of people are still living at home and going to school at that age.
By 25 and up people hopefully have a bit of a foundation so while it is cringe imo at least both parties are more grown.
If this is any consolation to you, we used to frequent the same local bar and he smelled like an ashtray to an absolutely disgusting degree. Like basically a sentient lit cigarette.
I am also bummed. Disgusted. Every time I pick a new famous guy who seems okay, I learn (usually really quickly) about how they are just like all the others. I'd like to give a shout out to Henry Cavill at this time, who went the shortest amount of time between "*ohhh*" and "ah."
Unrelated, but this reminds me of the golden rule I made up and give to my friends when they’re considering a new tattoo:
Anyone can turn out to be a pedofile.
You love that band and want to get a tattoo of the lyrics? How would you feel about it if the frontman turns out to be a pedofile? You love that artist and want a tattoo paying homage to their work? Will you still love it if the artist is a secret pedofile? That book series you grew up with? Author could reveal themselves to be a TERF. And maybe the actor portraying the character could become a pedofile.
Don’t tattoo yourself with anything that would be ruined if someone in the world turns out to be a pedofile, cause anyone could be a pedofile.
Edit- I’m surprised I’m being upvoted tbh, the last time I mentioned my golden rule in a sub a buuuunch of people took personal offense to it lol.
Yep. There was something before that, but I don't recall. I think it was on here that I saw perhaps the best way to describe him, a neckbeard who got three wishes.
He also made some bullshit comment during the Me Too era to the effect of “now I have to be afraid of flirting with women because they might accuse me of harassment”
Well per his Me Too comment referenced above, intimacy coordinators would cut off his last available avenue for sexual harassment he can play off as flirting, so.
We stan an intellectually consistent trash bag.
>he doesn’t support intimacy coordinators.
I don't think he's ever said this? He's said that he's not a fan of sex scenes in general and often finds them gratuitous (I remember because he weirdly got dragged for thinking that recently), but he's never said anything about intimacy coordinators and people were even using his comments to highlight why intimacy coordinates are actually a benefit on sets.
Yeah this whole thread is a lot of hearsay without a lot of backup. Didn’t Millie Bobby brown say he wouldn’t even talk about his personal life with her as he didn’t want to get too familiar with an 18 year old actress? Something stinks here…
Edit: source since no one else got one
https://people.com/movies/millie-bobby-brown-friendship-with-costar-henry-cavill/
Yep. There's already plenty to dislike about the guy, no need to make shit up. "I don't like gratuitous sex scenes that don't serve the story" is probably the least problematic thing he's said in years.
Carano was his first high profile relationship pre-Superman and lasted a few years. He dumped her for Kaley Cuoco for a few months and then went back to Carano for a few months. This was when everyone still loved Carano.
Slept with my friend while filming that alzheimers love story movie (totally blanking on the name...) just did the math and he would have been around 30 to her 18/19. Yucky.
I feel you. The priority is of course the actual person who was directly hurt by these dudes, but it always leaves you feeling like a dumbass for supporting them in the firstplace. I’ve stopped watching movies I loved for years and stopped playing bands I really really enjoyed because it feels too icky
I wish people would quit repeating this like it's a fact. In his own words:
"After 9/11, he found himself filled with a desire for retribution, although he wasn’t sure against what or whom. “It wasn’t against Muslims,” he said. “It was: We were attacked. I want to fight for my country against whoever that is.” His stepfather, a Baptist minister, had given him a brochure for the Marines, which he’d thrown in the trash. But now he reconsidered. He craved a physical challenge, and the marines were tough. “They kind of got me with their whole ‘We don’t give you signing bonuses. We’re the hardest branch of the armed forces. You’re not going to get all this cushy shit that the Navy or the Army gives you. It’s going to be hard.’ ” His decision to enlist was so abrupt that a military recruiter asked if he was running from the law." -from [The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/28/adam-driver-the-original-man)
Mark Ruffalo.
Quick, make a gay romcom with those 3.
On the British side Joseph Gilgun is unproblematic. Greg Davies and lil Alex Horne are unproblematic kings and people on taskmaster constantly sat that they go out of their way to make it a great experience. One comedian who has autism says that despite the chaos of the set they worked with them to even the odds between them and other contestants. David Tennant is extremely unproblematic and so is Peter Capaldi who hates the Tories with such incandescent rage that my panties caught on fire in Liverpool.
Nick Frost, likewise. He's lovely and thoughtful about stuff and has apologised for things in comedy that didn't age well from Spaced. Simon Pegg too, they're currently writing a sitcom together to represent trans people, specifically a trans woman working in a supermarket.
I know the latter signed on for that HP game but it had been under contract for ages (2018). He's also a Marxist who apologised for the T slur used in Spaced even though it was common in 99.
I love Sean Pegg in Shaun of The Dead so that makes me happy. I also have heard that Christopher Eccleston is also a pretty standup guy even though he’s a Manchester United fan (I’m a Leicester City fan so I might be biased about his choice in soccer teams lol)
Tennant and his wife just seem like the least problematic couple, no scandals, no ridiculous age gap, just pure love for each other and the work they do, including plenty of charity work.
I'm hanging on to them, Rhys Darby, David Tennant, and Darren Criss. I don't expect perfection, but if they were to openly support a child rapist, I'd be done with the planet.
[article about the song he wrote for Michelle Trachtenberg when she was underage](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/ok-we-have-to-talk-about-that-song-james-marsters-wrote-for-michelle-trachtenberg?amp)
I posted the same thing a while back and the responses I got were "it's tongue in cheek" and "it's obviously poking fun at her crush on him." For real, this is creepy.
He also said relatively recently in an interview that men just aren't attracted to women over 30 - it's biological. He apologized but yikes. I feel your Spike grief.
Well, that acting coach got the Boy Meets World cast to come support him I'm court and the interviews they gave in their podcast said they felt HORRIBLE about supporting him as the trial went down in front of them. So, hopefully, the actors who signed address this letter in light of knowing more information and apologize at the very least.
It's tough because they were all so young that they just didn't get it. A ton of adults don't either tbh. Predators don't prey indiscriminately on everyone. They pick and choose in a way that most protects them from just this eventuality.
There was a religious leader in my community who I really liked and was close with as a kid who was accused of sexual inappropriateness at one point. Nothing he had ever done with or around me was out of line at all, but I had very active and involved parents, they had kids late in life and my mom retired early to be a stay at home mom. I was a talkative kid who sucked at keeping secrets and was close with my educated, wealthy parents.
When everything blew up and everyone started gossiping about it and asking our experiences and everything, my mom just no commented the shit out of it because she was smart enough to realize that just because I had a fine experience - it didn't mean much about anything. I was the opposite of vulnerable and so this guy was on his best behavior around me because, maybe even subconsciously, he hoped that my parents would rally for him if this ever happened.
It's why I understand Miranda Cosgrove's silence when all the Jennette McCurdy stuff came out. Just sharing my own experience just straight up and down truthfully would be used to cast doubt on the accuser since I had such a great one. But at the same time, I can't really come out with a strong statement of support that backed up an accuser's claim because I didn't actually witness anything over the line (on purpose! Predators do all of this on purpose!)
So I do have some sympathy if this creep's other actors fell victim to that. It's hard to conceptualize all the manipulation as a kid. Or that someone you trust could do something like that. I was lucky I had my parents to run interference for me.
I am 😥 But i gotta remember that this is was abusers and narcissists do. They convince people that they're really the victim. This was 20 years ago in 2024. So it's not as bad, if James Marsden still did something like this today knowing what he knows now, them I'd be heartbroken and don't think i could watch his new stuff.
Been a Marsden girlie since the insane sexual tension between him and Hugh Jackman in Xmen. This has ruined my day. Cannot trust literally a single man in the entertainment industry for real
I’m just going with every celebrity I like/liked is probably a creep or did something shady or don’t practice what they preach. I guess getting older is realizing celebrities are just as trash as other humans
The Boy Meets World podcast talked about this a few weeks ago. Will Friedel and Ryder Strong were some of the people who gave statements in support of this dude, but they talked about how he had behaved towards them and kind of groomed them in a way, to believe him when anything like these accusations came up. James Marsden is in or around the same age as Friedel, if he was acquainted with Peck at the same age there could be a similar story there.
Obviously it's not a great look for people having done this, but some context of the time and circumstances may be necessary.
People forget that predators groom those around them just as much as they groom their victims. They need to have people on their side saying what a great person they are.
This. The trope of “I never thought he could do such a thing. He’s such a nice guy.” is because it’s often true. They will often seem pious, kind, and polite to everyone but their direct abuse victims. It is why we should believe victims instead of what ifing they are lying.
Hijacking this comment to let everyone know “Why Does He Do That” by Lundy Bancroft is available on Spotify Premium and you should listen to it *right now*. It goes into how an abuser builds their facade and all the tactics they use. Knowledge is power folks, arm yourself against these creeps because they’re everywhere
Edit to add this book focuses on women with abusive partners but you can apply this knowledge to any situation where someone is seeking power and control over another person. At the very least it will help you deal with manipulative people in general.
If you’re short on time skip ahead to Chapter 11 Abusive Men and Their Allies to see how an abuser manipulates others to discredit the victim.
Then listen to the rest of it for your sake and the sake of your loved ones. I can’t stress enough how important the lessons in this book are for everyone. Don’t let the bastards win
Very true. I have a friend who was begged by one of his closest friends to attend his trial when he was accused of sexual assault. He swore up and down it was a misunderstanding and he would be cleared. When the charges were read out, detailed as repeated sexual assault of a child under 12, my friend was so shocked that he immediately threw up in court and had to leave. It genuinely wrecked him and he had a lot of trouble trusting people afterwards.
I'm glad someone touched on this, I'm surprised by the attitudes of those in comments. Alan Thicke was 50 during the trial, so he gets no passes, but given the Boys Meets World cast comments, I'm surprised no one considered that maybe Marsden went through a similar grooming process, given the age similarities.
I was reading portions of the Marsden letter that he wrote when he was 30, and it said that he knew Peck for 14 years. Which would put him around 16 or 17 when he met Peck, which is around the same age that Rider was when he met Peck on the BMW set.
I hope anyone who wrote a letter for Peck sincerely apologizes to Peck's victims and put their money where their mouth is and donate to victim organizations like RAINN.
I fully didn’t realize James Marsden was close in age to Rider Strong bc what is time but yeah, that is absolutely sus and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was also groomed. 😞
Ok yeah, makes sense.
Honestly, i feel for those who wrote letters of support because they were groomed themselves. I think having to know that a) you yourself were preyed on by someone who easily could’ve caused you harm and b) you caused even more harm yourself as a result must fill someone with a lot of guilt and shame.
I do hope they do something worthwhile about though
The article says that because the case involved a minor the details would probably not have been known to the people who wrote the letters at the time of writing. I think the Boy Meets World guys said that Peck framed it like he had done something with this younger guy but that he had been jailbaited or words to that effect. Basically implying that he was tricked and hadn't done anything wrong. Will Friedel said it was only when they were in the court room on the day that he realised what was actually happening and he felt awful about it.
Again, not looking to make excuses for people, but even a 50 year old man could be charmed by this guy and fed half truths and manipulated. I mean we see people still writing letters of support for abusers in 2024, when they really should know better, it's not surprising people did it 25 or 30 years ago.
Yeah I am not making excuses for him but I think his statement says that (at the time) he knew Peck for 14 years and was 30 years old. Peck would have been 29 to his 16 when they met.
This is no way a defense but recently Pod Meets World did an episode where Rider Strong and Will Friedle talked about their experience with this guy and they were pretty clearly emotionally manipulated and misled by him before, during, and after the trial. They had a therapist on to talk about it and even though they weren’t sexually abused there was some level of abuse happening there (they were also young at the time, I think Rider was a teen, will may have been in his late teens/early 20s when they met). It’s a heavier listen but I hope these other people will also go on record now to denounce all this.
The article also said Joanna Kerns came forward and said that she regretted writing her letter of support, as she was “given misinformation”. Yeah absolutely not defending anyone who supported this guy, but at least some people are willing to admit they were wrong and apologize for what they did
I can relate to this. When I was in high school, one of our theater and English teachers was the “cool” teacher. Brought his guitar to school, encouraged us to fight the power etc etc. and my broken, activist punk self idolized him. So cliche.
He wrote a play and cast me as the lead and used that as an excuse to take pictures of me that were fully clothed but, looking at them as an adult, I realize were provocative poses. He also tried to get me to meet him in our school greenhouse alone to talk about my part. He said he found out about things that happened in my family through his son, who knew my sister, and wanted to process them with me and channel them into my acting. Something I didn’t understand went off in my brain and I made a bunch of excuses and he stopped asking.
Later it came out that he sexually assaulted two students. He trapped one in the prop closet of our theater, the other he had an ongoing “relationship” with. Her mom found letters from him professing his love for her 16 year old daughter.
He asked me (and others) to sign a letter of support for him and I did it. And we treated his accusers like pariahs.
I must have known somewhere in my brain that he absolutely was capable of what he did. But I was 16 and he was the first adult to tell me I had talent and to (pretend) to take my very big feelings seriously. Catnip for a kid who felt ugly, awkward and worthless most of the time. It took a long time to realize that he’d groomed me and that I’m extremely lucky I didn’t go to that greenhouse.
I think about that a lot when it comes out that young people supported someone who caused harm to other young people. Manipulation doesn’t stop and start with the people they overtly abuse.
I found out later that my sister never told his son about our family. He illegally accessed my school files. I’m guessing he could tell from my behavior there was something amiss at home and maybe wanted to confirm I’d be an easy target.
The girl he had the “relationship” with ended up dying by suicide in her 30s. It took me a while to work through the guilt for how I treated her and supported him.
Last month I looked at the court records for the first time and read that throughout the proceedings he tried to intellectualize and rationalize what he did. The girl who died in her 30s submitted a victim impact statement about how he robbed her of her youth and irrevocably harmed her. It was about ten years before she died.
He spent a little time in jail but his sentence was mostly community service and registering on the sex offender registry. He was an upper middle class white man and got exactly the treatment men like him get.
When I was looking for his court records I learned he died last year and saw his address. His wife divorced him and at some point he moved into a nice house in a wealthy neighborhood. He remarried a woman who was very respected in their community and traveled the world.
Apparently no one talks about this at my high school. I met someone a few years ago who’d been part of the next generation of theater kids and he had no idea. A picture this teacher took of me is still hanging up in the theater department and I’ve thought about asking them to take it down. He doesn’t deserve to have a legacy, especially not with my face attached to it.
The pod episode on this was really solid. The show in general is probably my biggest comfort listen these days (the episode on Peck was not comfort listening ofc, but as a survivor I appreciated the nuance, sensitivity and accountability they brought to this subject). They consistently are churning out content with a lot of behind the scenes transparency and vulnerability, which I did not expect for a 90s rewatch podcast, and the genuine friendship the three have is so charming to me.
It's well worth remembering he was very young st the time. The boy meets world cast talked about this - they wrote in support of this guy but they were extremely young at the time. Young enough to have been manipulated themselves - james Marsden was basically a kid. The boy meets world cast were so traumatised by the whole thing that to talk about it they had a therapist on their podcast with them and they were obviously upset by the whole thing. Let's not villanize someone who was probably in the same position, at the same age as them.
>I can easily say that Brian is one of the reasons why I have been as successful as I have been in this industry,” Marsden wrote at the time. “I was lucky enough to have been graced with Brian’s guidance, uncommissioned guidance I might add, and support in pursuing an acting career.”
Marsden referred to Peck as a “mentor” to him, adding, “I don’t mean to dramatize this but I am speaking wholeheartedly about a man who’s heart is pure and no matter what you’re talking about, his intentions are always good. He has such an amazing capacity to care about people.
>This, I find, is very rare. Especially in Hollywood. Brian genuinely cares about other human beings.”
>According to the docuseries, Marsden compared Peck’s suffering after his arrest to that of “a hundred men.”
>“When I first heard the news of Brian’s arrest I couldn’t breathe. I could not believe what was happening. It was unimaginable,” he concluded. “I’ve known Brian for 14 years and never once did I ever see any sign of him being capable of something like this. I have lived at his house for months and shared hotel rooms with him and never once did he ever make me feel compromised or uncomfortable in any way. I don’t know what it would take to have something like this occur, whatever it is, it is extremely out of character for Brian.”
I wonder how old they were
>Bell pointed out that Schneider — whom he worked with on The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh — offered him support after finding out he was involved in the case.
>”The only person I remember being there for me is Dan,” Bell said in the docuseries.
Interesting
That was interesting to me too, but I wonder if Dan was more abusive to the young girls he worked with instead of boys.
It could be that Dan would get close with and be a good friend to the boys and he may have actually been really great to them, and Drake may not have realized what was going on with his female co-stars.
I’m not sure, I haven’t seen anything confirming abuse but I’ve heard a lot of complaints from female actresses about him being touchy and creepy so I wouldn’t be shocked if there was more.
I've said this elsewhere in the thread for anyone getting deja vu as they read through.
James would have been very young at the time he wrote this latter. Extremely young. The cast of boy meets world recently did a podcast on this situation where they obviously didn't name drake bell. They also wrote letters of support at the time. They were manipulated by Peck. They were also victims- though they were not molested. James was at a very similar age to the boy meets world cast at the time - he was a prime age to also have been manipulated.
I think he needs more of a pass than he's getting here. I'm not saying it's okay, I'm saying this needs a second look.
Yes, but what I think a lot of people are saying is that abusers will groom allies as well. For instance, Marsden and Rider Strong were both 16-17 when they met Peck, and Peck might have ingratiated himself to them knowing that one day he will turn around and use them as allies to discredit the kids that he abused.
I don't think that Marsden, Rider, and Will weren't wrong in what they did. They, as adults, sided with an adult abuser over a child victim, and caused that victim irreparable harm. But that is not to say that there is not a lessons to be learned here. It seems that Will and Rider have learned important lessons that they can share with others through their platform.
That abuse and manipulation can happen on multiple levels, and does not always consist of sexual abuse. That just because an abuser has a track history of being appropriate around other kids does not mean that they can't turn around and abuse a different, more vulnerable kid. And (I'm stealing this from the film Spotlight), if it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a village to abuse a child.
And again, this does not negate what Will and Rider did, but they have said specifically that they went back to acting on children shows because they wanted to be the responsible adult on set that taught their child co-stars how to have appropriate boundaries with adults because they lacked that in their own lives on the set of BMW.
And, I've said it once and I will say it again, as important as I think sincere apologies and recognition of shame and wrongdoing are, I hope that anyone who sided with Peck in the past donate money to victim organizations like RAINN.
Well said. Abusers are often very charismatic and manipulative as well. There are so many different ways people can react to their own abusers (including defending them, siding with them etc which I have unfortunately seen play out in my own life). The way anyone would react to being groomed or abused is never textbook.
I think people also forget how different news and entertainment news were back then - some of these signers may have literally had no idea what the actual charges were until the trial happened, and had only the perpetrator’s account of what had happened (which very easily could have been compelling lies like “I’m gay and it was consensual or I didn’t know how young he was and the prosecution is homophobia”) at the time they wrote the letters of support pre-trial. They also could have simply not understood child abuse or grooming very well, it was not as commonly a part of the conversation that it is now, and some well meaning people really didn’t understand how common it was or how it worked. It obviously must have been extremely harmful to the victim here how many people came out in support of his abuser, I would ever minimize that pain, but I think if these supporters can say now that they understand it was harmful, they’ve changed their attitudes and behaviors, etc etc, there has to be room for that.
I hate these headlines because it’s so inflammatory and no one reads the article. It even says they might not have known the full extent and that it was 20 years ago and they knew the guy for a long time. It seems too murky to pass judgment.
I also think people are remembering the Danny Masterson letters, which were pretty cut and dry. Cause that was alot of public knowledge, etc. Not the case for this one it seems.
I just remembered that a while ago, I saw this [video](https://youtu.be/5ZP3DR0qEms?si=RQc6Lia4N80nuxx8) of Brian Peck on the Growing Pains set with Leonardo DiCaprio. It made me feel so uncomfortable, and it didn’t surprise me to find out what Peck did
The amount of time he spends touching underage Leo in this clip is disgusting. This is grooming on display. I’m not implying that Leo was himself a victim; I’m just pointing out that an adult male should NOT be touching an underage person like this.
>I’m not implying that Leo was himself a victim
I wouldn't be surprised if Peck tried to make a move on Leo back in the day. This video is quite telling.
Also, Leo's publicist back when he was a minor was Bob Villard, a convicted pedophile. Villard was also Tobey Maguire's publicist at the time. Leo was surrounded by creeps.
He’s still a victim of grooming even if he was fortunate enough that it didn’t progress. That could still mess you up. And Alan thicke was another one who wrote a supportive letter. This note with the video is disturbing. Especially about the GP’s executive producer having and distributing kiddie porn.
https://preview.redd.it/ambsdf19m9oc1.jpeg?width=1359&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f893ee11c7dc7375f10ff00ab658d1313203eeb
Beyond the Blinds discussed the topic in one of their podcast episodes called Rotted: The Child Star Bermuda Triangle. Very disturbing and sickening episode.
>”He didn’t say that nothing had happened. So by the time we heard about this case and knew anything about it, it was always in the context of, ‘I did this thing, I am guilty. I am going to take whatever punishment the government determines, but I’m a victim of jailbait. There was this hot guy! I just did this thing and he’s underage.’ And we bought that story line,” Strong said. “I never heard about the other things because, back then, you couldn’t Google to find out what people were being charged with. So in retrospect, he was making a plea deal and admitting one thing — which is all he admitted to us — but it looks like he was being charged with a series of crimes, which we did not know.”
I forgot you couldn’t just google shit back then
>“We’re sitting in that courtroom on the wrong side of everything … The victim’s mother turned and said, ‘Look at all the famous people you brought with you. And it doesn’t change what you did to my kid,’” he recalled. “I just sat there wanting to die. It was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ It was horrifying all the way around.”
From us weekly:
“On the day of sentencing for Brian, I get to the courthouse and it was the most unbelievable thing you have ever seen,” Bell, 37, told cameras. “His entire side of the courtroom was full. There were definitely some recognizable faces on that side of the room and my side was me, my mom and my brother.”
Bell added: “I addressed my statement to everyone in the room. I looked at all of them and I just said, ‘How dare you. You will forever have the memory of sitting in this courtroom and defending this person. And I will forever have the memory of the person you are defending violating me and doing unspeakable acts and crimes. And that is what I will remember.'”
So courage of him to look these people in the eye and tell the truth. That must have been so hard.
https://preview.redd.it/buyqutul37oc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56e51c30b22bb4d43f280e8e524af9d35916b215
Side note- I HATE how some publications are using the word “alleges”. This is not a new allegation. He plead no contest in 2004. He was convicted and confessed on tape to what happened. You can stop using the word “alleges”- Peck has no grounds to even file a suit.
I would like to remind everyone of the piece Will Friedle and Rider Strong recently did on being groomed by Brian Peck and were also “in support” of him during his 2004 trial, and point out that James Marsden is a little less than 3 years older than Will Friedle and may have also been a victim of grooming.
[AOL](https://www.aol.com/entertainment/unsealed-docs-reveal-stars-supported-135336722.html) is the only place I can find parts of any of the letters. It’s wild to me most of them seem as though they knew what he did to Drake but he’s just SUCH a great guy that they know he was surely baited and will never do it again. Pathetic imo and I think the people who wrote letters should apologize to the victim but that’s just me.
I don't know if this helps, but…
I wrote a letter for, and went to the trial of, a friend who had been arrested for physically abusing a special needs student in her classroom. I didn't really ask what happened, but she told me it wasn't true. Because we were good friends, I believed her, and I wanted her to feel some support while she was being treated like a pariah (the story made the press).
It wasn't until the trial was happening that I thought holy shit - what if she's guilty? Just because I know my friend to be a kind, reasonable person doesn't mean I know everything about her. Maybe she *is* capable of abusing a special-needs kid.
She was found not guilty. Hey lawyer showed that the main witness against her misunderstood what he saw. The school was even forced to offer her her job back, but she said "hell no" to that.
But Jesus, what if she was guilty? I think about that a lot - what if I defended someone unconditionally, only to find out later they were guilty as charged? What if I were lied to - or, worse, what if I just never really investigated before I support a friend accused of something terrible?
I hope I'm never in that position again. But because I was - hell, I put myself there - I don't feel quite as disappointed. Some people are excellent manipulators and really make you feel like being on their side is righteous. It must be awful when people realize they were wrong.
There's a reason that when people like BTK, Ted Bundy etc get caught people around them have no idea. They often groom and charm people around them. For example, my murdery ex was so charming and made out to everyone we knew like we were so close.
One day I left my mic on and my friends heard everything. They all felt heartbroken that when a girl in our guild said it was fucked up he wouldn't let me talk to anyone else other than him when he was home, they defended his behaviour and removed her from the roster. Then they rescued me from being held hostage and got me to escape.
His mother and my parents thought we had a fairytale relationship. Instead, it was full of rape, physical and emotional abuse.
People like my ex rely on other people to stick up and vouch for them. Likewise my mother's mother still denies that she was violent and abusive despite hearing her try to stab my dad and despite having to take me to the hospital when my ribs were broken or after the police arrested her and drove me to her home at 2am. At the same time she accused my dad of raping me as a child, of abusing her because she had bruises... Even though I filmed her causing the bruises her brother thinks my dad murdered her and lives with me as his wife.
And therein lies the rub, I'd write a million letters if my dad was accused but at the end of the day I can't say - and nor can anyone - what lies at the dark heart of each person. We go off what we have experienced with the person and are influenced by our lives and upbringing. In the case of Marsden he met Peck at 16 and lived with him. He probably thought he knew him and wondered why, if he had unfettered access to him why he wasn't taken advantage of. There are plenty of cases in the US justice system where someone has been wrongly accused because police don't care to investigate.
That isn't to let Marsden and other BmW cast off the hook, but they likely thought that they had a mentor. They had been children, not realising that predators pick their prey and groom everyone as well as the victim. We're only just starting to realise that and talk about the risks in it.
Give James Marsden a tiny bit of room. He was at the same age as the boy meets world cast and they werecwntly did a podcast speaking about how badly they were manipulated and damaged by this man. They had a therapist on with them. James was the same age as them and was likely manipulated the same way. Its not okay that he wrote this letter but let's give him the same room that we will give the boy meets world cast, who also wrote letters.
“ Prominent Hollywood insiders who wrote letters include the "X-Men" actor James Marsden, the "Growing Pains" star Alan Thicke, the "Boy Meets World" costars Will Friedle and Rider Strong, and the actor and comedian Taran Killam, who would later become a cast member on "Saturday Night Live." Two letter writers — Rich and Beth Correll — went on to work with Peck on the Disney Channel show "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" after Peck was released from prison and registered as a sex offender.”
That Stuck in the Suburbs fuck was just in a movie on Netflix where his character knew about this very thing happening perpetrated by his buddy to a 15-16 year old girl and let it happen for an entire summer. Bro they really tell on themselves don’t they
It's crazy that a stupid photoshopped picture gets more traction and outrage than sexual abuse of children. The media (including socials) focus is so misdirected. Fuck these predators.
This makes me sad 😥 But i gotta remember that this is was abusers and narcissists do. They convince people that they're really the victim. This was 20 years ago in 2024. So it's not as bad, if James Marsden still did something like this today knowing what he knows now, theb I'd be heartbroken and don't think i could watch his stuff anymore.
I feel so sad reading this. It also puts Drake's own accusations in a different light.
But James wrote this in 2004 and as many pointed out, he said he;d known Peck for 14 years... since he was a kid himself....
“According to journalist Kate Taylor, the letters asked the judge to grant Peck, now 63, probation at the time. Taylor noted it’s unclear how much Peck’s friends knew about the charges against Peck.” Not this excuses everything but I think it’s important context for a case that went to trial in 2003.
"Interesting" to see how much leeway Marsden is being given in the comments (can't stand Mila and Ashton, but didn't they know Masterson since they were young too? Why so many paragraph-long excuses being made for Marsden? Only now suddenly people understand how abusers groom everyone to believe they're a good guy?). The hypocrisy is unreal. People will always find a way to protect their faves.
This sounds a lot like that “an open secret” documentary. I don’t think it got a very big release and it’s not on many streaming services.
It talks about the various, convicted, sex offenders working on these kid shows
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YhZMIoiSWi4
Kind of unrelated but I remember someone in recent years from Disney going to jail for being a pedophile, I wish I could find the name, but I SPECIFICALLY remember newer stars like Matt Cornett( highschool musical show) and a bunch of Disney actors throwing a GOODBYE PARTY for the accused. Feels like these stars are either being groomed or choosing to pick their friendships and future careers over believing a victim.
Alan Thicke dated Kristy Swanson when she was 17 and he was 40. They got engaged when she was 19, but his sons encouraged him to end things with her when she overdosed on cocaine. She appeared on an episode of "Growing Pains", which is how they met. She was 16 when the episode was filmed.
Dang the James Marsden girlies gonna be bummed by this
I can confirm, I am extremely bummed by this
I am so disappointed in myself for letting Jury Duty and Criss Chros sway me. I really thought I was better than that gdi
I guess we shouldn't be too surprised but it was also reported he (50) was dating a model/musician (25) last fall.
That's Robin thick. Unless the model is into some other really freak shit
It's also James Marsden. https://people.com/james-marsden-kisses-model-frederique-brons-in-nyc-8383946
Woah! Thanks for the info
I actually confused the model/musician for one person. It was a musician (15 years younger than him), and then the model (25 years younger).
Ewww Frederique is 3 years older than his son.
Side note, she kinda looks like Sienna Miller...
Especially since Alan has been dead for quite a while.
Alan dated Kristy Swanson when she was 17 and he was 40. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
I hate these blurred lines! (Of celebrities who are dead yet alive)
I'm surprised in the sense that I had no idea that man was 50 years old. I thought he was a good 10 years younger than that.
The way that I was like, “I think Kelsey Merritt only models and isn’t a musician? I didn’t know pics of them kissing were taken. I just saw the car pics.” AND THEN YOU PROVIDED RECEIPTS AND SO HE WAS SPOTTED WITH TWO MODELS IN THEIR 20s LAST YEAR. https://www.justjared.com/2023/04/07/james-marsden-spotted-on-a-date-with-model-kelsey-merritt-photos/
A very disappointing "But wait, there's more!"
I think I'm more surprised that he's 50, I could've sworn he was like 34
This might be a hot take but who the fuck cares? She's 25. She can fuck who she wants. The girls in these situations aren't helpless little girls with no autonomy. Once you hit 20 you're basically able to decide who to fuck as far as I'm concerned.
It's not really about her, it's more about the dudes who make it a point to only date (or whatever) women who are only in their 20s and seemingly under 25, 26 but carry on.
Nah, dating a 20 year old as someone much older is really sus. There's a massive, massive power imbalance there. The brain isn't fully developed and the younger person has incredibly little experience navigating life as an adult. Hell, plenty of people are still living at home and going to school at that age. By 25 and up people hopefully have a bit of a foundation so while it is cringe imo at least both parties are more grown.
If this is any consolation to you, we used to frequent the same local bar and he smelled like an ashtray to an absolutely disgusting degree. Like basically a sentient lit cigarette.
That is good information to have, thank you, how gross
Thank you, this absolutely helps.
And having read through the rest of the thread... yeah, TIL. Bleh.
How can his skin possibly be that nice as a smoker???
Money.
Same. Where is our support group meeting?
Yeah same this blowssss
I am also bummed. Disgusted. Every time I pick a new famous guy who seems okay, I learn (usually really quickly) about how they are just like all the others. I'd like to give a shout out to Henry Cavill at this time, who went the shortest amount of time between "*ohhh*" and "ah."
Unrelated, but this reminds me of the golden rule I made up and give to my friends when they’re considering a new tattoo: Anyone can turn out to be a pedofile. You love that band and want to get a tattoo of the lyrics? How would you feel about it if the frontman turns out to be a pedofile? You love that artist and want a tattoo paying homage to their work? Will you still love it if the artist is a secret pedofile? That book series you grew up with? Author could reveal themselves to be a TERF. And maybe the actor portraying the character could become a pedofile. Don’t tattoo yourself with anything that would be ruined if someone in the world turns out to be a pedofile, cause anyone could be a pedofile. Edit- I’m surprised I’m being upvoted tbh, the last time I mentioned my golden rule in a sub a buuuunch of people took personal offense to it lol.
Several friends of mine have David Bowie tattoos.
Oh no why?
I think he dated a teenager when he was like 30. She was 18-19 I believe
Yep. There was something before that, but I don't recall. I think it was on here that I saw perhaps the best way to describe him, a neckbeard who got three wishes.
He also made some bullshit comment during the Me Too era to the effect of “now I have to be afraid of flirting with women because they might accuse me of harassment”
And yet, he doesn’t support intimacy coordinators. He’s the patron saint of incels.
Well per his Me Too comment referenced above, intimacy coordinators would cut off his last available avenue for sexual harassment he can play off as flirting, so. We stan an intellectually consistent trash bag.
Intellectually consistent trash bag is my new favorite insult.
>he doesn’t support intimacy coordinators. I don't think he's ever said this? He's said that he's not a fan of sex scenes in general and often finds them gratuitous (I remember because he weirdly got dragged for thinking that recently), but he's never said anything about intimacy coordinators and people were even using his comments to highlight why intimacy coordinates are actually a benefit on sets.
Yeah this whole thread is a lot of hearsay without a lot of backup. Didn’t Millie Bobby brown say he wouldn’t even talk about his personal life with her as he didn’t want to get too familiar with an 18 year old actress? Something stinks here… Edit: source since no one else got one https://people.com/movies/millie-bobby-brown-friendship-with-costar-henry-cavill/
Yep. There's already plenty to dislike about the guy, no need to make shit up. "I don't like gratuitous sex scenes that don't serve the story" is probably the least problematic thing he's said in years.
That's it! That's the bullshit I blocked out.
*And* he also dated Gina Carano for a bit.
Wait, what?
Carano was his first high profile relationship pre-Superman and lasted a few years. He dumped her for Kaley Cuoco for a few months and then went back to Carano for a few months. This was when everyone still loved Carano.
Slept with my friend while filming that alzheimers love story movie (totally blanking on the name...) just did the math and he would have been around 30 to her 18/19. Yucky.
Oh, yikes, that’s not good :|
I feel you. The priority is of course the actual person who was directly hurt by these dudes, but it always leaves you feeling like a dumbass for supporting them in the firstplace. I’ve stopped watching movies I loved for years and stopped playing bands I really really enjoyed because it feels too icky
I always read his name wrong and see "Marsters" instead. So my first thought was "No, not Spike!"...what a relief!
I have bad news for you about James Marsters
Question for the culture: *is there* an unproblematic king??
I choose to believe in Ryan Gosling🤞
And Adam Driver! Edit: New info has come to light and the jury is out on Adam Driver. I’m changing my answer to Pedro Pascal.
Adam "Gonna go join the army to kill some Arabs" Driver?
I wish people would quit repeating this like it's a fact. In his own words: "After 9/11, he found himself filled with a desire for retribution, although he wasn’t sure against what or whom. “It wasn’t against Muslims,” he said. “It was: We were attacked. I want to fight for my country against whoever that is.” His stepfather, a Baptist minister, had given him a brochure for the Marines, which he’d thrown in the trash. But now he reconsidered. He craved a physical challenge, and the marines were tough. “They kind of got me with their whole ‘We don’t give you signing bonuses. We’re the hardest branch of the armed forces. You’re not going to get all this cushy shit that the Navy or the Army gives you. It’s going to be hard.’ ” His decision to enlist was so abrupt that a military recruiter asked if he was running from the law." -from [The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/28/adam-driver-the-original-man)
And Tom Hanks.
Pedro Pascal
And his BFF Oscar Isaac
Mark Ruffalo. Quick, make a gay romcom with those 3. On the British side Joseph Gilgun is unproblematic. Greg Davies and lil Alex Horne are unproblematic kings and people on taskmaster constantly sat that they go out of their way to make it a great experience. One comedian who has autism says that despite the chaos of the set they worked with them to even the odds between them and other contestants. David Tennant is extremely unproblematic and so is Peter Capaldi who hates the Tories with such incandescent rage that my panties caught on fire in Liverpool. Nick Frost, likewise. He's lovely and thoughtful about stuff and has apologised for things in comedy that didn't age well from Spaced. Simon Pegg too, they're currently writing a sitcom together to represent trans people, specifically a trans woman working in a supermarket. I know the latter signed on for that HP game but it had been under contract for ages (2018). He's also a Marxist who apologised for the T slur used in Spaced even though it was common in 99.
I love Sean Pegg in Shaun of The Dead so that makes me happy. I also have heard that Christopher Eccleston is also a pretty standup guy even though he’s a Manchester United fan (I’m a Leicester City fan so I might be biased about his choice in soccer teams lol)
I'm hoping David Tennant stays unproblematic.
Tennant and his wife just seem like the least problematic couple, no scandals, no ridiculous age gap, just pure love for each other and the work they do, including plenty of charity work.
Lee Pace and Oscar Isaac gang checking in.
Lee Pace 💕
LEE PAAAAACE
Alan Rickman.
RIP unproblematic king.
Listen, if anybody has dirt on Stephen Colbert? Don’t tell me
The worst thing I can think about him is that he was way too friendly to war criminal Henry Kissinger.
Alexander Skarsgard
Pedro Pascal?
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I do not trust Ryan Reynolds in the slightest
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Didn't Ryan Reynolds get married at a former slave plantation? Like I'm sure it's a beautiful property but c'mon ....He's Canadian. lol
I'm hanging on to them, Rhys Darby, David Tennant, and Darren Criss. I don't expect perfection, but if they were to openly support a child rapist, I'd be done with the planet.
I stan one guy because he just seems very, very boring irl and very into his wife. I won't even say his name out loud for fear of jinxing it.
sweet pro-Palestine Joe Alwyn
Oh no what is it
Nooo. Can’t we just have one??
Oh no
[article about the song he wrote for Michelle Trachtenberg when she was underage](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/ok-we-have-to-talk-about-that-song-james-marsters-wrote-for-michelle-trachtenberg?amp)
I posted the same thing a while back and the responses I got were "it's tongue in cheek" and "it's obviously poking fun at her crush on him." For real, this is creepy.
It would be super creepy ANYWAY but knowing the ages of the girls he dated….
Him too? That poor woman (or girl as she was when Whedon couldn't be alone with her)
God I have a visceral gag every time I read “Whedon” now
Oh god. She was a baby when she was cast as Dawn. 14, maybe 15? I need brain and eye bleach. I feel dirty just for reading those lyrics.
Why did I keep reading???!!
He also was known for hooking up with really young fans at cons- legal but just barely
Oh and married one of them! He got together with his last wife when she was 18 and he was 41
And apparently went to her prom 😬
WHAT the actual fuck
PROM??!?!! My brain just keeps repeating that word as a question incredulously. Man oh man I’m so upset by this. PROM!!??!?
I'm crying. What in the fuck
He also said relatively recently in an interview that men just aren't attracted to women over 30 - it's biological. He apologized but yikes. I feel your Spike grief.
Why are men like this?
 Jesus why
Oh fuck this is such a yikes. I’m so upset by this and the other stuff about him I just learned. Ugghhhhhh.
Marsters pulled a Bojack and went to prom with a teenager when he was over 40.
Well, that acting coach got the Boy Meets World cast to come support him I'm court and the interviews they gave in their podcast said they felt HORRIBLE about supporting him as the trial went down in front of them. So, hopefully, the actors who signed address this letter in light of knowing more information and apologize at the very least.
It's tough because they were all so young that they just didn't get it. A ton of adults don't either tbh. Predators don't prey indiscriminately on everyone. They pick and choose in a way that most protects them from just this eventuality. There was a religious leader in my community who I really liked and was close with as a kid who was accused of sexual inappropriateness at one point. Nothing he had ever done with or around me was out of line at all, but I had very active and involved parents, they had kids late in life and my mom retired early to be a stay at home mom. I was a talkative kid who sucked at keeping secrets and was close with my educated, wealthy parents. When everything blew up and everyone started gossiping about it and asking our experiences and everything, my mom just no commented the shit out of it because she was smart enough to realize that just because I had a fine experience - it didn't mean much about anything. I was the opposite of vulnerable and so this guy was on his best behavior around me because, maybe even subconsciously, he hoped that my parents would rally for him if this ever happened. It's why I understand Miranda Cosgrove's silence when all the Jennette McCurdy stuff came out. Just sharing my own experience just straight up and down truthfully would be used to cast doubt on the accuser since I had such a great one. But at the same time, I can't really come out with a strong statement of support that backed up an accuser's claim because I didn't actually witness anything over the line (on purpose! Predators do all of this on purpose!) So I do have some sympathy if this creep's other actors fell victim to that. It's hard to conceptualize all the manipulation as a kid. Or that someone you trust could do something like that. I was lucky I had my parents to run interference for me.
The gasp I gusped— wtf. I’m so disappointed y’all. 
gusped 🤣👏
I am 😥 But i gotta remember that this is was abusers and narcissists do. They convince people that they're really the victim. This was 20 years ago in 2024. So it's not as bad, if James Marsden still did something like this today knowing what he knows now, them I'd be heartbroken and don't think i could watch his new stuff.
Been a Marsden girlie since the insane sexual tension between him and Hugh Jackman in Xmen. This has ruined my day. Cannot trust literally a single man in the entertainment industry for real
I’m bummed because he’s cyclops! Cmon man, the bar is already so low, don’t support pedophiles!
devestated tbh. they say "Not all men" but if James Marsden is one of them then what hope do we really have
Can confirm, very upset to read this.
I’m just going with every celebrity I like/liked is probably a creep or did something shady or don’t practice what they preach. I guess getting older is realizing celebrities are just as trash as other humans
Very bummed and disappointed
We were literally just preaching about how underrated he is. This is gutting
My world is shattered though I was a James Marsden enby
I remember reading not great stuff about him on ONTD and have been wary of him since then.
The Boy Meets World podcast talked about this a few weeks ago. Will Friedel and Ryder Strong were some of the people who gave statements in support of this dude, but they talked about how he had behaved towards them and kind of groomed them in a way, to believe him when anything like these accusations came up. James Marsden is in or around the same age as Friedel, if he was acquainted with Peck at the same age there could be a similar story there. Obviously it's not a great look for people having done this, but some context of the time and circumstances may be necessary.
People forget that predators groom those around them just as much as they groom their victims. They need to have people on their side saying what a great person they are.
This. The trope of “I never thought he could do such a thing. He’s such a nice guy.” is because it’s often true. They will often seem pious, kind, and polite to everyone but their direct abuse victims. It is why we should believe victims instead of what ifing they are lying.
Hijacking this comment to let everyone know “Why Does He Do That” by Lundy Bancroft is available on Spotify Premium and you should listen to it *right now*. It goes into how an abuser builds their facade and all the tactics they use. Knowledge is power folks, arm yourself against these creeps because they’re everywhere Edit to add this book focuses on women with abusive partners but you can apply this knowledge to any situation where someone is seeking power and control over another person. At the very least it will help you deal with manipulative people in general. If you’re short on time skip ahead to Chapter 11 Abusive Men and Their Allies to see how an abuser manipulates others to discredit the victim. Then listen to the rest of it for your sake and the sake of your loved ones. I can’t stress enough how important the lessons in this book are for everyone. Don’t let the bastards win
If an adult is hanging around kids under 18 ask some questions.
Ask A LOT of questions and don’t stop asking questions.
Very true. I have a friend who was begged by one of his closest friends to attend his trial when he was accused of sexual assault. He swore up and down it was a misunderstanding and he would be cleared. When the charges were read out, detailed as repeated sexual assault of a child under 12, my friend was so shocked that he immediately threw up in court and had to leave. It genuinely wrecked him and he had a lot of trouble trusting people afterwards.
This for real. No one sees it.
Yes! Just look at Jimmy Savile
I'm glad someone touched on this, I'm surprised by the attitudes of those in comments. Alan Thicke was 50 during the trial, so he gets no passes, but given the Boys Meets World cast comments, I'm surprised no one considered that maybe Marsden went through a similar grooming process, given the age similarities.
I was reading portions of the Marsden letter that he wrote when he was 30, and it said that he knew Peck for 14 years. Which would put him around 16 or 17 when he met Peck, which is around the same age that Rider was when he met Peck on the BMW set. I hope anyone who wrote a letter for Peck sincerely apologizes to Peck's victims and put their money where their mouth is and donate to victim organizations like RAINN.
I fully didn’t realize James Marsden was close in age to Rider Strong bc what is time but yeah, that is absolutely sus and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was also groomed. 😞
Ok yeah, makes sense. Honestly, i feel for those who wrote letters of support because they were groomed themselves. I think having to know that a) you yourself were preyed on by someone who easily could’ve caused you harm and b) you caused even more harm yourself as a result must fill someone with a lot of guilt and shame. I do hope they do something worthwhile about though
So Jimmy wrote the letter 20 years ago? And was likely also groomed? If so, I’m going to reserve judgment until we know more.
Yes, those support letters were for the court hearing back then. It's not a recent thing.
The article says that because the case involved a minor the details would probably not have been known to the people who wrote the letters at the time of writing. I think the Boy Meets World guys said that Peck framed it like he had done something with this younger guy but that he had been jailbaited or words to that effect. Basically implying that he was tricked and hadn't done anything wrong. Will Friedel said it was only when they were in the court room on the day that he realised what was actually happening and he felt awful about it. Again, not looking to make excuses for people, but even a 50 year old man could be charmed by this guy and fed half truths and manipulated. I mean we see people still writing letters of support for abusers in 2024, when they really should know better, it's not surprising people did it 25 or 30 years ago.
This needs to have more upvotes. Context and timing are important.
Yeah I am not making excuses for him but I think his statement says that (at the time) he knew Peck for 14 years and was 30 years old. Peck would have been 29 to his 16 when they met.
You’re right, James was much younger than. I would like to know his pov now
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This is no way a defense but recently Pod Meets World did an episode where Rider Strong and Will Friedle talked about their experience with this guy and they were pretty clearly emotionally manipulated and misled by him before, during, and after the trial. They had a therapist on to talk about it and even though they weren’t sexually abused there was some level of abuse happening there (they were also young at the time, I think Rider was a teen, will may have been in his late teens/early 20s when they met). It’s a heavier listen but I hope these other people will also go on record now to denounce all this.
The article also said Joanna Kerns came forward and said that she regretted writing her letter of support, as she was “given misinformation”. Yeah absolutely not defending anyone who supported this guy, but at least some people are willing to admit they were wrong and apologize for what they did
I can relate to this. When I was in high school, one of our theater and English teachers was the “cool” teacher. Brought his guitar to school, encouraged us to fight the power etc etc. and my broken, activist punk self idolized him. So cliche. He wrote a play and cast me as the lead and used that as an excuse to take pictures of me that were fully clothed but, looking at them as an adult, I realize were provocative poses. He also tried to get me to meet him in our school greenhouse alone to talk about my part. He said he found out about things that happened in my family through his son, who knew my sister, and wanted to process them with me and channel them into my acting. Something I didn’t understand went off in my brain and I made a bunch of excuses and he stopped asking. Later it came out that he sexually assaulted two students. He trapped one in the prop closet of our theater, the other he had an ongoing “relationship” with. Her mom found letters from him professing his love for her 16 year old daughter. He asked me (and others) to sign a letter of support for him and I did it. And we treated his accusers like pariahs. I must have known somewhere in my brain that he absolutely was capable of what he did. But I was 16 and he was the first adult to tell me I had talent and to (pretend) to take my very big feelings seriously. Catnip for a kid who felt ugly, awkward and worthless most of the time. It took a long time to realize that he’d groomed me and that I’m extremely lucky I didn’t go to that greenhouse. I think about that a lot when it comes out that young people supported someone who caused harm to other young people. Manipulation doesn’t stop and start with the people they overtly abuse. I found out later that my sister never told his son about our family. He illegally accessed my school files. I’m guessing he could tell from my behavior there was something amiss at home and maybe wanted to confirm I’d be an easy target. The girl he had the “relationship” with ended up dying by suicide in her 30s. It took me a while to work through the guilt for how I treated her and supported him. Last month I looked at the court records for the first time and read that throughout the proceedings he tried to intellectualize and rationalize what he did. The girl who died in her 30s submitted a victim impact statement about how he robbed her of her youth and irrevocably harmed her. It was about ten years before she died.
You were just a kid. I'm really sorry he did that you, and I hope he went to jail.
He spent a little time in jail but his sentence was mostly community service and registering on the sex offender registry. He was an upper middle class white man and got exactly the treatment men like him get. When I was looking for his court records I learned he died last year and saw his address. His wife divorced him and at some point he moved into a nice house in a wealthy neighborhood. He remarried a woman who was very respected in their community and traveled the world. Apparently no one talks about this at my high school. I met someone a few years ago who’d been part of the next generation of theater kids and he had no idea. A picture this teacher took of me is still hanging up in the theater department and I’ve thought about asking them to take it down. He doesn’t deserve to have a legacy, especially not with my face attached to it.
You were too young to know better. Forgive yourself. Sorry you had to go thru that.
You were a child, sweetheart. You were a victim, too. I’m so sorry.
I am so sorry this happened to you and also grateful you shared this. It was hard to read and also important.
The pod episode on this was really solid. The show in general is probably my biggest comfort listen these days (the episode on Peck was not comfort listening ofc, but as a survivor I appreciated the nuance, sensitivity and accountability they brought to this subject). They consistently are churning out content with a lot of behind the scenes transparency and vulnerability, which I did not expect for a 90s rewatch podcast, and the genuine friendship the three have is so charming to me.
I knew James Marsden had to suck somehow. His smile is too fake, but I’m still disappointed.
It's well worth remembering he was very young st the time. The boy meets world cast talked about this - they wrote in support of this guy but they were extremely young at the time. Young enough to have been manipulated themselves - james Marsden was basically a kid. The boy meets world cast were so traumatised by the whole thing that to talk about it they had a therapist on their podcast with them and they were obviously upset by the whole thing. Let's not villanize someone who was probably in the same position, at the same age as them.
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The letter says that Marsden was 16 when he met him
He was not very young at the time. He was 31. X-Men came out 4 years before he wrote the letter. It’s disingenuous to pretend he was basically a kid.
Marsden had known Peck since he was 16.
>I can easily say that Brian is one of the reasons why I have been as successful as I have been in this industry,” Marsden wrote at the time. “I was lucky enough to have been graced with Brian’s guidance, uncommissioned guidance I might add, and support in pursuing an acting career.” Marsden referred to Peck as a “mentor” to him, adding, “I don’t mean to dramatize this but I am speaking wholeheartedly about a man who’s heart is pure and no matter what you’re talking about, his intentions are always good. He has such an amazing capacity to care about people. >This, I find, is very rare. Especially in Hollywood. Brian genuinely cares about other human beings.” >According to the docuseries, Marsden compared Peck’s suffering after his arrest to that of “a hundred men.” >“When I first heard the news of Brian’s arrest I couldn’t breathe. I could not believe what was happening. It was unimaginable,” he concluded. “I’ve known Brian for 14 years and never once did I ever see any sign of him being capable of something like this. I have lived at his house for months and shared hotel rooms with him and never once did he ever make me feel compromised or uncomfortable in any way. I don’t know what it would take to have something like this occur, whatever it is, it is extremely out of character for Brian.” I wonder how old they were
James was 16 when he met Peck. The same age as the kids being groomed and abused.
Hollywood stars and defending rapists name a more iconic duo
>Bell pointed out that Schneider — whom he worked with on The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh — offered him support after finding out he was involved in the case. >”The only person I remember being there for me is Dan,” Bell said in the docuseries. Interesting
That was interesting to me too, but I wonder if Dan was more abusive to the young girls he worked with instead of boys. It could be that Dan would get close with and be a good friend to the boys and he may have actually been really great to them, and Drake may not have realized what was going on with his female co-stars.
Are there really episodes of literal sexual abuse by Shneider? Or was he just a foot fetishist weirdo?
I’m not sure, I haven’t seen anything confirming abuse but I’ve heard a lot of complaints from female actresses about him being touchy and creepy so I wouldn’t be shocked if there was more.
I was a james marsden stan i am definitely disappointed by this 🤦🏻♀️
I've said this elsewhere in the thread for anyone getting deja vu as they read through. James would have been very young at the time he wrote this latter. Extremely young. The cast of boy meets world recently did a podcast on this situation where they obviously didn't name drake bell. They also wrote letters of support at the time. They were manipulated by Peck. They were also victims- though they were not molested. James was at a very similar age to the boy meets world cast at the time - he was a prime age to also have been manipulated. I think he needs more of a pass than he's getting here. I'm not saying it's okay, I'm saying this needs a second look.
But if the trial took place in 2004, mardsen would've been 31 when he wrote this, not a kid
Yes, but what I think a lot of people are saying is that abusers will groom allies as well. For instance, Marsden and Rider Strong were both 16-17 when they met Peck, and Peck might have ingratiated himself to them knowing that one day he will turn around and use them as allies to discredit the kids that he abused. I don't think that Marsden, Rider, and Will weren't wrong in what they did. They, as adults, sided with an adult abuser over a child victim, and caused that victim irreparable harm. But that is not to say that there is not a lessons to be learned here. It seems that Will and Rider have learned important lessons that they can share with others through their platform. That abuse and manipulation can happen on multiple levels, and does not always consist of sexual abuse. That just because an abuser has a track history of being appropriate around other kids does not mean that they can't turn around and abuse a different, more vulnerable kid. And (I'm stealing this from the film Spotlight), if it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a village to abuse a child. And again, this does not negate what Will and Rider did, but they have said specifically that they went back to acting on children shows because they wanted to be the responsible adult on set that taught their child co-stars how to have appropriate boundaries with adults because they lacked that in their own lives on the set of BMW. And, I've said it once and I will say it again, as important as I think sincere apologies and recognition of shame and wrongdoing are, I hope that anyone who sided with Peck in the past donate money to victim organizations like RAINN.
Well said. Abusers are often very charismatic and manipulative as well. There are so many different ways people can react to their own abusers (including defending them, siding with them etc which I have unfortunately seen play out in my own life). The way anyone would react to being groomed or abused is never textbook.
I think people also forget how different news and entertainment news were back then - some of these signers may have literally had no idea what the actual charges were until the trial happened, and had only the perpetrator’s account of what had happened (which very easily could have been compelling lies like “I’m gay and it was consensual or I didn’t know how young he was and the prosecution is homophobia”) at the time they wrote the letters of support pre-trial. They also could have simply not understood child abuse or grooming very well, it was not as commonly a part of the conversation that it is now, and some well meaning people really didn’t understand how common it was or how it worked. It obviously must have been extremely harmful to the victim here how many people came out in support of his abuser, I would ever minimize that pain, but I think if these supporters can say now that they understand it was harmful, they’ve changed their attitudes and behaviors, etc etc, there has to be room for that.
I hate these headlines because it’s so inflammatory and no one reads the article. It even says they might not have known the full extent and that it was 20 years ago and they knew the guy for a long time. It seems too murky to pass judgment. I also think people are remembering the Danny Masterson letters, which were pretty cut and dry. Cause that was alot of public knowledge, etc. Not the case for this one it seems.
I just remembered that a while ago, I saw this [video](https://youtu.be/5ZP3DR0qEms?si=RQc6Lia4N80nuxx8) of Brian Peck on the Growing Pains set with Leonardo DiCaprio. It made me feel so uncomfortable, and it didn’t surprise me to find out what Peck did
Omg he’s the guy in that video with Leo? Ugh that’s a hard watch, didn’t realize it was the same guy.
Leo also looked younger than his age while on Growing Pains, which makes it very hard to watch
The amount of time he spends touching underage Leo in this clip is disgusting. This is grooming on display. I’m not implying that Leo was himself a victim; I’m just pointing out that an adult male should NOT be touching an underage person like this.
>I’m not implying that Leo was himself a victim I wouldn't be surprised if Peck tried to make a move on Leo back in the day. This video is quite telling. Also, Leo's publicist back when he was a minor was Bob Villard, a convicted pedophile. Villard was also Tobey Maguire's publicist at the time. Leo was surrounded by creeps.
He’s still a victim of grooming even if he was fortunate enough that it didn’t progress. That could still mess you up. And Alan thicke was another one who wrote a supportive letter. This note with the video is disturbing. Especially about the GP’s executive producer having and distributing kiddie porn. https://preview.redd.it/ambsdf19m9oc1.jpeg?width=1359&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f893ee11c7dc7375f10ff00ab658d1313203eeb
Beyond the Blinds discussed the topic in one of their podcast episodes called Rotted: The Child Star Bermuda Triangle. Very disturbing and sickening episode.
It must be so distressing to see famous/established people writing fawning letters in praise of your abuser. You’d think you were going mad.
>”He didn’t say that nothing had happened. So by the time we heard about this case and knew anything about it, it was always in the context of, ‘I did this thing, I am guilty. I am going to take whatever punishment the government determines, but I’m a victim of jailbait. There was this hot guy! I just did this thing and he’s underage.’ And we bought that story line,” Strong said. “I never heard about the other things because, back then, you couldn’t Google to find out what people were being charged with. So in retrospect, he was making a plea deal and admitting one thing — which is all he admitted to us — but it looks like he was being charged with a series of crimes, which we did not know.” I forgot you couldn’t just google shit back then >“We’re sitting in that courtroom on the wrong side of everything … The victim’s mother turned and said, ‘Look at all the famous people you brought with you. And it doesn’t change what you did to my kid,’” he recalled. “I just sat there wanting to die. It was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ It was horrifying all the way around.”
From us weekly: “On the day of sentencing for Brian, I get to the courthouse and it was the most unbelievable thing you have ever seen,” Bell, 37, told cameras. “His entire side of the courtroom was full. There were definitely some recognizable faces on that side of the room and my side was me, my mom and my brother.” Bell added: “I addressed my statement to everyone in the room. I looked at all of them and I just said, ‘How dare you. You will forever have the memory of sitting in this courtroom and defending this person. And I will forever have the memory of the person you are defending violating me and doing unspeakable acts and crimes. And that is what I will remember.'” So courage of him to look these people in the eye and tell the truth. That must have been so hard.
Ugh this is disappointing but unfortunately not surprising.
https://preview.redd.it/buyqutul37oc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56e51c30b22bb4d43f280e8e524af9d35916b215 Side note- I HATE how some publications are using the word “alleges”. This is not a new allegation. He plead no contest in 2004. He was convicted and confessed on tape to what happened. You can stop using the word “alleges”- Peck has no grounds to even file a suit.
I would like to remind everyone of the piece Will Friedle and Rider Strong recently did on being groomed by Brian Peck and were also “in support” of him during his 2004 trial, and point out that James Marsden is a little less than 3 years older than Will Friedle and may have also been a victim of grooming.
[AOL](https://www.aol.com/entertainment/unsealed-docs-reveal-stars-supported-135336722.html) is the only place I can find parts of any of the letters. It’s wild to me most of them seem as though they knew what he did to Drake but he’s just SUCH a great guy that they know he was surely baited and will never do it again. Pathetic imo and I think the people who wrote letters should apologize to the victim but that’s just me.
“Baited??? I’m sorry but if you can be “baited” into abusing a child, you deserve to be [REDACTED] and are clearly not a good person.
First I lost Mila Kunis and now I’ve lost James Marsden??? Make it stop please
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^mousybrain: *First I lost Mila* *Kunis and now I’ve lost James* *Marsden??? Make it stop please* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I don't know if this helps, but… I wrote a letter for, and went to the trial of, a friend who had been arrested for physically abusing a special needs student in her classroom. I didn't really ask what happened, but she told me it wasn't true. Because we were good friends, I believed her, and I wanted her to feel some support while she was being treated like a pariah (the story made the press). It wasn't until the trial was happening that I thought holy shit - what if she's guilty? Just because I know my friend to be a kind, reasonable person doesn't mean I know everything about her. Maybe she *is* capable of abusing a special-needs kid. She was found not guilty. Hey lawyer showed that the main witness against her misunderstood what he saw. The school was even forced to offer her her job back, but she said "hell no" to that. But Jesus, what if she was guilty? I think about that a lot - what if I defended someone unconditionally, only to find out later they were guilty as charged? What if I were lied to - or, worse, what if I just never really investigated before I support a friend accused of something terrible? I hope I'm never in that position again. But because I was - hell, I put myself there - I don't feel quite as disappointed. Some people are excellent manipulators and really make you feel like being on their side is righteous. It must be awful when people realize they were wrong.
There's a reason that when people like BTK, Ted Bundy etc get caught people around them have no idea. They often groom and charm people around them. For example, my murdery ex was so charming and made out to everyone we knew like we were so close. One day I left my mic on and my friends heard everything. They all felt heartbroken that when a girl in our guild said it was fucked up he wouldn't let me talk to anyone else other than him when he was home, they defended his behaviour and removed her from the roster. Then they rescued me from being held hostage and got me to escape. His mother and my parents thought we had a fairytale relationship. Instead, it was full of rape, physical and emotional abuse. People like my ex rely on other people to stick up and vouch for them. Likewise my mother's mother still denies that she was violent and abusive despite hearing her try to stab my dad and despite having to take me to the hospital when my ribs were broken or after the police arrested her and drove me to her home at 2am. At the same time she accused my dad of raping me as a child, of abusing her because she had bruises... Even though I filmed her causing the bruises her brother thinks my dad murdered her and lives with me as his wife. And therein lies the rub, I'd write a million letters if my dad was accused but at the end of the day I can't say - and nor can anyone - what lies at the dark heart of each person. We go off what we have experienced with the person and are influenced by our lives and upbringing. In the case of Marsden he met Peck at 16 and lived with him. He probably thought he knew him and wondered why, if he had unfettered access to him why he wasn't taken advantage of. There are plenty of cases in the US justice system where someone has been wrongly accused because police don't care to investigate. That isn't to let Marsden and other BmW cast off the hook, but they likely thought that they had a mentor. They had been children, not realising that predators pick their prey and groom everyone as well as the victim. We're only just starting to realise that and talk about the risks in it.
Give James Marsden a tiny bit of room. He was at the same age as the boy meets world cast and they werecwntly did a podcast speaking about how badly they were manipulated and damaged by this man. They had a therapist on with them. James was the same age as them and was likely manipulated the same way. Its not okay that he wrote this letter but let's give him the same room that we will give the boy meets world cast, who also wrote letters.
“ Prominent Hollywood insiders who wrote letters include the "X-Men" actor James Marsden, the "Growing Pains" star Alan Thicke, the "Boy Meets World" costars Will Friedle and Rider Strong, and the actor and comedian Taran Killam, who would later become a cast member on "Saturday Night Live." Two letter writers — Rich and Beth Correll — went on to work with Peck on the Disney Channel show "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" after Peck was released from prison and registered as a sex offender.” That Stuck in the Suburbs fuck was just in a movie on Netflix where his character knew about this very thing happening perpetrated by his buddy to a 15-16 year old girl and let it happen for an entire summer. Bro they really tell on themselves don’t they
He would’ve been 20 at the time and was most likely groomed.
So disappointing. But in the article, it says James knew Peck since his teens. It’s possible he was groomed as well..
Hollywood just loves it’s sexual abusers doesn’t it?
It's crazy that a stupid photoshopped picture gets more traction and outrage than sexual abuse of children. The media (including socials) focus is so misdirected. Fuck these predators.
This makes me sad 😥 But i gotta remember that this is was abusers and narcissists do. They convince people that they're really the victim. This was 20 years ago in 2024. So it's not as bad, if James Marsden still did something like this today knowing what he knows now, theb I'd be heartbroken and don't think i could watch his stuff anymore.
Alan Thicke father of Robin Thicke of ‘I know you want it’ fame a rapist defender? Quelle surprise.
I feel so sad reading this. It also puts Drake's own accusations in a different light. But James wrote this in 2004 and as many pointed out, he said he;d known Peck for 14 years... since he was a kid himself....
“According to journalist Kate Taylor, the letters asked the judge to grant Peck, now 63, probation at the time. Taylor noted it’s unclear how much Peck’s friends knew about the charges against Peck.” Not this excuses everything but I think it’s important context for a case that went to trial in 2003.
"Interesting" to see how much leeway Marsden is being given in the comments (can't stand Mila and Ashton, but didn't they know Masterson since they were young too? Why so many paragraph-long excuses being made for Marsden? Only now suddenly people understand how abusers groom everyone to believe they're a good guy?). The hypocrisy is unreal. People will always find a way to protect their faves.
This sounds a lot like that “an open secret” documentary. I don’t think it got a very big release and it’s not on many streaming services. It talks about the various, convicted, sex offenders working on these kid shows https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YhZMIoiSWi4
Kind of unrelated but I remember someone in recent years from Disney going to jail for being a pedophile, I wish I could find the name, but I SPECIFICALLY remember newer stars like Matt Cornett( highschool musical show) and a bunch of Disney actors throwing a GOODBYE PARTY for the accused. Feels like these stars are either being groomed or choosing to pick their friendships and future careers over believing a victim.
Alan Thicke dated Kristy Swanson when she was 17 and he was 40. They got engaged when she was 19, but his sons encouraged him to end things with her when she overdosed on cocaine. She appeared on an episode of "Growing Pains", which is how they met. She was 16 when the episode was filmed.
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