“Screech” from NBC’s 1989-1993 teen hit comedy “Saved By The Bell” is politely screeching out to fans via the Internet and satellite radio to help him save his house.
Firstly, NO…this is NOT a case of yet another child or teen actor who has hit the skids and is appealing for money due to unsavory problems.
In fact, Dustin Diamond is doing comedy clubs, which means he has transitioned his young actor career into another aspect of show business (one that could be lucrative and keep him busy if he stays with it).
He is apparently caught in a series of unfortunate circumstances — but he’s hoping fans will help him and get a nice t-shirt that will also help him out:
More than a bell is needed to save Dustin Diamond this time around. Diamond, best known as geeky Screech Powers on the 1989-1993 teen comedy series “Saved by the Bell,” is selling T-shirts with his photo on them to try to raise $250,000 so he doesn’t lose his gray two-story house under a foreclosure order.
“If the public didn’t care, I as an entertainer wouldn’t have been a success,” he said.
Diamond, 29, is trying to sell nearly 30,000 shirts — at $15 or $20 (autographed) each — to supplement the income he makes as a standup comic so he doesn’t have to move from his Port Washington home, about 25 miles north of Milwaukee.
The T-shirt has a photo of Diamond holding a sign that says, “Save My House.” The back of the shirt reads, “I paid $15.00 to save Screeech’s house.” The third “e” was added to get around copyright laws, he said.
He’s selling the shirts on his Web site: http://www.getdshirts.com.
The foreclosure order was filed last month in Ozaukee County Circuit Court.
Diamond appeared on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show Tuesday to plead his case. “I’m doing great with my comedy, but this is definitely a low point,” he said. “Real life comes in and affects you.”
He offers more details on his website and he begins it this way:
I’m Dustin Diamond and you probably remember me from the hit TV show Saved By The Bell. After the show ended I decided to leave Sunny Cailfornia for the midwest. My s—– credit meant that getting a loan for a house would be tough. I began looking and finally purchased one on a land contract. I was thrilled! Now I call Wisconsin my home.
During the past years the land around me has developed for the better and my property value went way up. Now that the house is worth a lot more they want it back. Knowing my credit is bad, getting a straight mortgage would take some time. I received a letter stating that I had 30 days to pay $250,000.00 or get out. I was not thrilled.
Read his account of what happened to him, on his website. Whether you liked the show or not, and whether he was your favorite actor or not, it’ll probably motivate you to invest the money to buy one of his t-shirts.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.