‘Hollywood Demons’ Reveals Dustin Diamond Pulled Knife on ‘Saved by the Bell: The New Class’ Costar

The next episode of ID’s Hollywood Demons digs into the dark side of a ’90s favorite: Saved by the Bell.

In this exclusive clip of the episode, titled “After the Bell” and airing Monday (May 4) night, a former crew member from the Dustin Diamond-led spinoff series Saved by the Bell: The New Class reveals some truly terrifying behavior from the actor.

“To be totally honest, it was pretty bananas from the jump. So you’d walk into the dressing room, and it was immediately a little odd. He had pictures of knives and guns in his dressing room,” the former production assistant explains.

“He came off a big hit, Saved by the Bell, but he’s still an insecure teenager at that time, who comes in wanting to present, ‘I’m the big boss. I’ve got the gravitas. I’m really the star of this show,'” the interviewee continues. “I saw him treat a lot of people poorly, to be very clear. We were shooting something one day, as I recall, it was a promotional video. I was one of the PAs involved, and they told him, ‘Be natural. Have fun. Joke around, and we’ll just capture it.’ Soon enough, there was an argument between Dustin Diamond and a cast member, I can’t even remember what started it exactly, but here’s Dustin Diamond, saying, ‘I could have you fired!’ Very quickly, it turned into Dustin pulling out a butterfly knife.”

Mark Bridge, a childhood friend, also confirms in the segment that Diamond had a fascination with knives. “I will tell you that Dustin did like to carry a pocket knife. We were friends from before he was on the national stage, and he liked the Chinese stars, the samurai sword, the knives,” Bridge says.

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Diamond starred as Samuel “Screech” Powers in the original series and its many follow-ups — including Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style, Saved by the Bell: The College Years, and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas — and also reprised his role for unrelated series like Hang Time and Robot Chicken.

His adult life was marred by controversies, however. In 2006, he released a sex tape of himself, and in 2009, he released a memoir that he later admitted featured fabrications about his former Saved by the Bell costars, and in 2014, he was arrested for allegedly pulling a knife out during a fight wherein someone was stabbed; he was later convicted of two misdemeanors in the case and arrested again in 2016 for parole violations. Diamond later died of small-cell carcinoma of the lungs at 44.

The teaser for the next episode of Hollywood Demons also tells us, “A beloved 90’s high school sitcom, Saved by the Bell, captured the heart of a generation. However, in the years since its premiere, stalking, lies, sex tapes, and other controversies have tarnished the sitcom’s reputation. Featuring interviews from Saved by the Bell actors, including Lark Voorhies, Ed Alonzo, Max Battimo, as well as members of the production team and family members, pull back the curtain on the harsh realities that some cast members faced when the cameras stopped rolling.”

Hollywood Demons, Mondays, 9/8c, ID