It’s sad to see an actor show a darker side of themselves, pushing their fans away and igniting controversy.
Unfortunatly, it happens frequently, with the most recent target being Josh Peck. The former Nickelodeon star was most well-known for his role in Drake & Josh.
The House Fire Incident
Peck posted on his official Instagram account footage of a house on fire as people try to douse the flames with buckets of water. One woman in particular is trying to throw the water onto the home, though he efforts are futile in the disastrous situation.
Then Peck creates a video seemingly “mocking” the situation. In the video, Peck stood at a car wash in front of his Tesla, spraying the concrete instead of the car.
The video is captioned: “It’s in the effort and not the results,” clearly making fun of the family trying to save their home and imitating the woman throwing the water.
The video immediately got lots of backlash, causing Peck to take the post down quickly. However, he wasn’t quick enough. As with most things on the internet, they are never deleted.
A Reddit user was able to save it and shared it on the r/Popculturechat subreddit. It has since flooded the internet, and fans are not happy about what they see.
Fan’s Reactions
As you can imagine, the reactions to Josh Peck’s stunt are less than pleased. Many of them are downright venomous with their comments.
One Reddit user shared, “You have to be a particular kind of moron to think people would find any humor in this.”
Another was more shocked, writing, “Why would he post this? Genuinely confused.”
Some fans even connected his actions back to being a celebrity. Others comment on the priviledges they get compared to other working classes.
One Redditor shared, “Rich people aren’t even trying to pretend to be decent people anymore. Accountability is for the working class.”
Another didn’t hold back with their rage, saying, “Filming it in front of your shiny nice car just goes to show how incredibly out of touch wealthy people are. Disgusting.”
These are just some of the less offensive comments about Peck’s video, but the reality is, people are beyond angry. Between the entitlement and disregard for a family losing their home, Peck has managed to strike a chord with his fans, and not in a good way.
While many of the comments are restrained to the Reddit post, several Instagram users have starting posting comments about the videos on his more recent posts to get his attention.
Peck hasn’t made a statement on the situation yet. However, it’s clear fans do not want to associate with this former child actor anymore.
2 Years After Quiet on Set Criticism
Peck’s most recent post controversy comes almost two years after he faced criticism for not speaking out publicly when former co-star Drake Bell revealed he was sexually abused as a teenager.
The story was brought to light in the 2024 docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. Bell was the unidentified minor who came forward in 2003. He was molested at 15 years old by dialogue coach Brian Peck.
In March 2024, after the docuseries was released, Josh Peck offered support on Instagram to his friend.
“I finished the Quiet on Set documentary and took a few days to process it. I reached out to Drake privately, but wanted to give my support for the survivors who were brave enough to share their stories of emotional and physical abuse on Nickelodeon sets with the world,” he wrote.
“Children should be protected. Reliving this publicly is incredibly difficult, but I hope it can bring healing for the victims and their families as weell as necessary change to our industry.”
The two stars reunited on a podcast in 2025, talking about the situation and reconnecting with each other.