'Everything I've heard about his book is it is negative. I don't remember those things,' Gosselaar says of Diamond's book, claiming his experience on the show 'was very positive.'
- Aug 8, 2014
AceShowbiz - Mark-Paul Gosselaar has blasted Dustin Diamond for saying bad things about his experience working on "Saved by the Bell" in his 2009 tell-all book. Both actors co-starred on the 1990s NBC sitcom, but they apparently have different memories about what happened behind the scenes.
"It is negative," Gosselaar says when stopping by HuffPo Live with his "Franklin & Bash" co-star Breckin Meyer. "That I must say. Everything I've heard about his book is it is negative. I don't remember those things. My experience on the show was very positive."
"That's why when people say, 'Oh, you don't like talking about it,' I don't mind talking about it, I just don't really remember that time ... everything I do remember was extremely positive," the former Zack Morris depicter continues, adding that what's in Diamond's book is "his perspective."
Meyer chimes in, "This guy's such a d**k. I don't know Dustin at all, but like, everything I read... [Gosselaar] and I have talked endlessly about 'Saved by the Bell'. I grew up at the same time, I was acting - I used their sets one time when I did a pilot ... the Dustin Diamond thing is just so silly. It's just so negative and it always bums me out."
He goes on defending Gosselaar, "I know Elizabeth [Berkley] and Tiffani [Thiessen] and Mario [Lopez]and everyone has nothing but like awesome [things] to say about that except for Dustin. I'm like, 'That might be you, bro.' "
"I think a bunch of it is bulls**t," Meyer continues slamming Diamond and his tell-all. "I think he's so full of s**t, like his sex tape... you saw it! That's not him! Screech is not packing that. Get the hell out of here. He doesn't have six Beldings beneath him. There's no f**king way. You're full of s**t, Dustin."
In his book, Diamond who played Screech Powers on "Saved by the Bell" said that sex and drugs were prevalent on the set of the show. "I could smell a certain 'smoke,' wafting from the crack" from under his castmates' dressing rooms, he recalled.
The 32-year-old also claimed that Gosselaar used steroids before production of the series sequel, "Saved by the Bell: The College Years". He said of his co-star, "He suddenly exploded with manliness, loading 25 pounds of muscle on his once-scrawny frame in, oh, about a month."
Diamond further revealed that his former co-stars would hook up off-camera. "If Kelly [Tiffani-Amber Thiessen] was interested in Slater [Mario Lopez] one week, then backstage there was a lot going between them in Mario's room," he claimed. "Then, if Jessie [Elizabeth Berkley] kisses Zack [Gosselaar], then you know Elizabeth Berkley is going in Mark-Paul's room."
The "Celebrity Fit Club" alum, who filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and released his own sex tape in 2006, also labeled Mario Lopez a serial womanizer and alleged that Thiessen used guys to further her career.
Diamond's tell-all is used as the basis for Lifetime's upcoming TV movie "The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story", which is set to premiere September 1.
