Add Josh Peck, star of Nickelodeon‘s beloved sitcom “Drake & Josh,” to the long list of people who owe Oprah Winfrey an apology.
On a recent episode of the “Syd & Olivia Talk Sh*t” podcast, Peck addressed a scene from a season 4 episode of the sitcom where his character, Josh Nichols, including the OWN founder’s close encounter.
Peck admitted that the network failed to ask Winfrey for permission to use her likeness in the episode, titled “Josh Runs Into Oprah.”
“I don’t know. I know we don’t have her permission. 100% we don’t,” Peck told the hosts, comedy writers Sydney Heller and Olivia DeLaurentis, when asked how Nickelodeon got away with the scene.
He then recalled reluctantly filming the scene with a “non-sanctioned” stunt double.
“She was a stunt lady, because she had to do the roll over the car. I was like, ‘Oprah is going to come after you. She’s powerful,’” he recalled.
The now-classic 2006 episode was the season premiere of the sitcom’s final season. Peck’s character, who is constantly teased for practicing interviews on the cardboard cutout of Winfrey that he has in his room, takes his super-fandom to another level, which lands him and his stepbrother, Drake Parker (Drake Bell), in her studio parking lot.
After the wild antics unfold, Josh crashes into the Oprah look-alike’s path with a moving object. The chaotic scene ends with Josh being issued a restraining order by his idol.
Peck remains in disbelief that the scene made it onto the screens.
“To this day, I’m amazed it made it past the script stage. It’s just insane, the whole plot centers on me hitting Oprah, and somehow that was fine,” he said.
Despite the scene not being his idea, the 37-year-old actor issued his formal apology to Winfrey during the podcast. “I’m so sorry I brutalized you with my vehicle, with my Honda Accord, or whatever it was.”
Regardless of the questionable scene, Peck isn’t oblivious to the fandom still attached to the slapstick sitcom that topped Nickelodeon’s ratings for four years.
“It was such a wild concept, even by early 2000s sitcom standards,” he stated. “But I think that’s what made it so memorable. We were doing slapstick comedy, and it just went there full-on.” With a laugh, he reflected on the fact that the scene remains relevant to fans. “It’s weird how much that scene still circulates. I’ll randomly get tagged in memes …”
As powerful as Winfrey is, she may also have a sense of humor, as evidenced by her never retaliating against the network or any of the actors in the sitcom.
Revealing the network’s failure to ask the former talk show host about making her the butt of the episode’s joke isn’t the only secret that has been revealed about the kid’s network.
Peck’s longtime co-star and friend, Bell, was at the forefront of the scandals that fueled the 2024 docuseries “Quiet On Set.” The five-part documentary television that details the toxic behind-the-scenes world of children’s television programs from the 1990s to the 2000s, some at the hands of the show’s dialogue coach, Brian Peck (who has no relation to Josh Peck).
After the docuseries uncovered the dark side of the children’s network, specifically regarding his co-star, Peck posted an Instagram post in response to his feelings.
“Children should be protected. Reliving this publicly is incredibly difficult, but I hope it can bring healing for the victims and their families as well as necessary change to our industry,” he wrote.
Despite the post, fans criticized Peck for not speaking out in defense of Bell more. Shortly after, Bell posted a TikTok video, asking fans to take it easy on Peck. He, too, said he was “processing” everything and acknowledged that it was a very “difficult” time, and that his former co-star had reached out to him.
“So not everything is put out to the public. … But he has reached out to talk with me and help me work through this and it’s been really, really great.”
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