Drake Bell Says Josh Peck Wrote An 'Offensive' Drake & Josh Reboot That Never Happened

22 March 2022, 15:53 | Updated: 26 April 2024, 15:14

Drake and Josh reunite on Instagram live

By Katie Louise Smith

Drake's wife Janet said the script reportedly included several offensive and harmful stereotypes about Mexico and Mexican people.

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In 2022, Josh Peck shocked fans of the iconic Nickelodeon series after revealing that he and Drake Bell were no longer friends, as well as claiming he had not spoken or connected with his former co-star since reuniting at the VMAs in 2017.

In response to Josh's comments, Drake and his estranged wife Janet Von Schmeling dropped the first episode of their Drake & Janet podcast, calling Josh's comments a "straight lie" because the two had been in talks to work together again in 2019.

In the first episode of the podcast, Drake and Janet discuss Josh, his friendship with Drake over the years and his comments from his BFFs podcast interview.

They also spill details about the previously teased, now-scrapped Drake & Josh revival series, written by Josh himself, that reportedly included offensive stereotypes about Mexican people.

Read more: Drake Bell Explains How Josh Peck Supported Him After 'Quiet On Set' Appearance

Drake Bell Says Josh Peck Wrote An 'Offensive' Drake & Josh Reboot That Never Happened. Picture: Kevin Mazur/KCA2014/WireImage, Nickelodeon via YouTube

Back in March 2019, there was talk of a Drake & Josh revival happening with both Josh and Drake on board. Drake and Janet have now explained what happened to the project and why they ultimately decided to pull out of the whole thing.

"We pitched a Drake & Josh reboot show called Josh & Drake," Janet says. "The premise was pretty bizarre, for me."

Drake then says that he asked Josh, who initially approached Drake about the project and wrote the script himself, to change some things in the show but he wouldn't adjust it.

The pilot script's opening scene is said to have included a fan reciting the iconic "Hug me, brotha," line to Josh, who then replies, "Hug yourself, f--khead."

Drake's storyline in the opening episode also featured several harmful Mexican stereotypes.

Drake & Janet Episode #1

Speaking of the script, Janet says: "The idea could have been really great. The problem is Josh wrote Drake as a failed musician and Josh wrote himself as a real estate agent. That's fine, but Drake is a musician in real life so it wouldn't make sense audience-wise."

"We're supposed to be playing ourselves. Like, he totally parodied my actual life..." Drake added, with Janet replying, "He was making fun of your life."

Janet then explained the serious problem about the Mexican stereotypes within the script: "Right now, it's 2022. The Latin culture, especially the Mexican fans, are sick of the way Americans portray them in movies. It's always cartels, it's always guns, it's always drugs..."

Janet goes on to detail parts of the script, including a scene that involved Drake performing at a quinceañera of the daughter of the biggest drug kingpin in Mexico.

Josh Peck and Drake Bell reunited at the VMAs in 2017. Picture: Josh Peck via YouTube

Reading the script from an email on her phone, Janet continues: "'Her father Enriqué, the head of the cartel, sits in the middle of the party at a table surrounded by guards and beautiful women... Think Escobar, Chapo. Drake is onstage backed by a mariachi band. People drink copious amounts of alcohol…and ingest other illicit substances.'"

Drake and Janet go on to call Josh’s script "a direct insult" to the Mexican people, and the work the couple have done in the country.

Janet then says that she "couldn't allow" Drake to take part in something that was negative towards Mexican people, also noting that their baby son is half-Paraguayan and will speak Spanish at home as he grows up.

Drake also agreed that he wouldn't have let himself do the series if the script had stayed that way either.