On April 13, Twitter was bombarded by the news that former child star Drake Bell (real name Jared Bell) was reported missing in Daytona Beach, Florida. Bell, who rose to fame for his role as Drake Parker in the Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh, was last seen on April 12 at a high school in Daytona. According to authorities, Bell was considered “missing and endangered.”
However, just a few hours later, officials reported that Bell had contacted law enforcement and is currently safe. Her Campus reached out to Bell’s team for comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
In the past, Bell was known as a childhood icon for many Gen Zers. However, in 2021, Bell came under fire after allegations of assault and child endangerment that reportedly took place in October 2017. Bell was sentenced to two-year probation and 200 hours of community service after pleading guilty to attempted endangering children, a fourth-degree felony, and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.
After news broke about Bell’s status as missing, the internet was instantly confused. Given that authorities provided little information as to why Bell was considered “endangered,” and because of Bell’s extremely problematic persona, Twitter users had something to say… and memes to make.
As the internet does, many netizens turned the whole ordeal into a meme.
Other users took Bell’s trending status to point out his problematic history.
For the most part, though, everyone is just super confused about the whole situation.
So, what actually happened with this whole Drake Bell situation? Well, Bell himself took to Twitter to give his two cents on the whole thing, and it seems like there was no real reason to worry. “You leave your phone in the car and don’t answer for the night and this?” he wrote, with a cry-laughing emoji.
So there you have it! Mystery solved.
This article was originally published on 4/13/23. It was updated on 4/14/23.