[Source: Entertainment Weekly]

“It’s a lot of evil, corrupt people,” the actor added.

Following his bombshell revelations about the abuse he endured as a Nickelodeon star, Drake Bell is now opening up about the financial realities of his time on the network.

Despite Drake & Josh being a fan-favorite series and catapulting him to fame, it has not been as profitable a venture as people may expect, Bell said during a visit to the The Unplanned Podcast. Bell and co-star Josh Peck have never received residuals for their time on the show, in fact, he said.

“That’s the perception of the world — it’s always been this way: It’s like, you know, ‘Oh, you made a Folgers Coffee commercial. You must live in a mansion in Hollywood. I saw you on TV, you’re rich,'” Bell said. “That’s far from the case. And especially — which is the bummer for most of us on Nickelodeon — we don’t get residuals for our shows.”

Bell claimed that unlike other networks, Nickelodeon stars received a one-time payment for their work. When host Matt Howard asked whether the lack of residuals was due to the network taking advantage of their age, Bell quipped, “Keep going! Keep trying to figure it out.”

He added, “It’s a lot of evil, corrupt people…that is the answer. There’s no other answer. Do everything that they do to us mentally and emotionally, and then throw us to the wolves. And we’re like, ‘Okay, cool. I got rent this month.'”

Bell said that while the sitcom still has an audience, and has found new life on streaming platforms, it has not benefited him and Peck directly.

“There are three channels doing Drake & Josh marathons. Netflix just bought it, it’s top 10 on Netflix, and I gotta figure out how to pay my rent this month,” Bell said. “And some fat cat with a cigar is just sitting up at the top of Viacom… It’s just like getting high on child labor.”

He continued, “We’re putting in all of this work. This corporation is making billions with a ‘B’ off of us, and we’re being compensated for the week of work, cool, but that’s it. And forever, in perpetuity, it literally says in the contract, across universes and galaxies and planets.” He joked, “If Elon [Musk] gets us to Mars and they show Drake & Josh, it’s impossible for me to get paid for it.”

Bell additionally claimed that the lack of residuals did not apply to everyone at the network, adding that “guest stars” were an exception: “There’s people who said two lines in one episode that still get checks in the mail. Josh and I? Not a dime.”

Bell, who filed for bankruptcy back in 2014, went on to say that without residuals, paying publicists, managers, and California taxes creates a financial burden that people outside of the industry aren’t aware of.

Representatives for Nickelodeon did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment.

Bell is among multiple former child stars, writers, and crew who recounted alleged abuse and a toxic workplace environment at Nickelodeon during megaproducer — and Drake & Josh creator — Dan Schneider’s reign in the ʼ90s and ʼ00s. Schneider has denied allegations of inappropriate behavior and toxicity on set.

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