Dustin Diamond infamously went to prison in 2016 for stabbing a man at a Port Washington, WI bar. However, this was apparently not the first incident where Diamond used a knife against someone else in an aggressive manner. A defunct website called "The Wave"
published the following article back around 2004 in which Diamond admitted he pulled a butterfly knife on
Spankee Rogers, his
Saved By The Bell: The New Class co-star, back in the mid-1990s:
Saved by
the Bass
Dustin Diamond screeches into
the mic.
By Scott DeVaney
Note: the following interview was not conducted under standard conditions because
the interviewer, me, has a personal history with the interview subject, Dustin
Diamond, a.k.a. Screech. To make a very long story short, in the early ‘90s
I worked as a production assistant on Saved by the Bell: The New Class.
You remember the series – it was the one where the classic geek character,
Screech, comes back to his old high school to work as the principal’s assistant.
Hijinks and deep moral lessons ensue, naturally. (Another note: I could literally
fill an entire tell-all novel with my experiences on Saved by the Bell.
Rest assured that it was the single most insane environment I have ever witnessed
– a fantastic Tinseltown tale replete with child actor egos, drugs, money,
sex and a producer who believes Jesus talks to him. Totally serious. )
However, since I only worked on the show for about nine months and was the
showbiz equivalent of a water boy, Diamond had no recollection of me. I chose
not to reveal our shared history until the end of the interview, because I wanted
to get his candid response to a situation that occurred on the set of Saved
by the Bell involving a fight Diamond had with fellow cast member, Spankee
Rogers. To the best of my memory, Diamond pulled out a butterfly knife during
the verbal skirmish with Spankee, but never attempted to strike his co-star
with it. Now, take a moment to try to picture Screech threatening someone with
a brass butterfly knife… Yes, it was as surreal and awesome as you can
imagine. As you will soon learn, Mr. Diamond has a very different recollection
of the altercation. Additionally, we’re forced by the laws of Hollywood
to talk about his “music” career. In case I forgot to mention it earlier,
Diamond now plays bass in the band Salty the Pocketknife (how ironic). They
try to sound like Mr. Bungle meets Frank Zappa.
The Wave: If you were going to kill yourself, how would you do it?
Dustin Diamond: Hard to say. If I ever went, I’d want to go peacefully
in my sleep. I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to plan my own death.
TW: Have you received any advice from Dennis Quaid or Bruce Willis on how
to manage an acting and music career?
DD: No, no. In fact, I think what’s funny is that because this music isn’t
Top 40 music, we really stand out from anyone that’s ever juggled both.
And I’ve been in music longer than I’ve been in acting.
TW: How would you describe your band’s sound?
DD: Odd time, eclectic, it’s musician’s music. It’s stuff that
people who know music can really appreciate. It’s not your cookie cutter,
standard, predictable stuff.
TW: What are Salty the Pocketknife groupies like?
DD: Hard to say. On the outside, some of them look like people you’d see
every day on the street. Some of them are really wacky and crazy looking, really
individualistic and yet, when you talk to the people, usually they’re just
laid back, normal, cool people.
TW: Do you have any awesome rockstar drug problems?
DD: No, no yet. But I’m young. Give me time. But seriously, that’s
one of the things that’s funny – all these child stars grow up and
they’re knockin’ over banks and they’re getting prostitutes and
stuff – I’m, like, one of the only people I know that has managed
to dodge all of that negative crap.
TW: Did you make enough cash on Saved by the Bell to be set for life?
DD: I don’t think you can ever make enough to be set for life. Well, I
guess there are limits. In the billions, I guess. But instead of hording it,
come up with something really creative to do with it, you know? Make a mark.
TW: The scope of your fame is quite astonishing. I was in Peru this past
summer in a remote town and even a group of 12-year-old Peruvian girls knew
who Screech was. Are you amazed, or even aware of, the global notoriety you
have?
DD: Yeah, I’ve gotten letters from all over the world – Burma, Bangladesh,
the Serengeti – it’s amazing the show had such an impact like that.
It’s a testimony to the phenom that it was.
TW: What’s your favorite weapon?
DD: Favorite weapon? The sword was a very elegant weapon in the days of the
samurai. You had honor and chivalry much like the knights, and yet even though
it was a gruesome and horrific weapon, unlike guns, you didn’t have drive-bys
and you couldn’t just pick one up and point it at someone, you actually
had to have skill to take someone’s life. I think there were a lot fewer
random deaths with swords. I could be wrong. I have no idea. But it just seems
that way.
TW: Does Mario Lopez wear an excessive amount of tank tops in real life?
DD: No, but… I don’t know who’s worse with little boys, Mario
or Michael Jackson.
TW: Wow, that’s a loaded statement. Anyway, you know, our paths have
briefly crossed. I was a P.A. on Saved by the Bell: The New Class for
a few episodes.
DD: Really?
TW: Really. I remember this one day when you got into a fight with Spankee
Rogers. Do you remember that?
DD: Yeah.
TW: And you pulled out a butterfly knife and Spankee started saying, “Come
on, bitch. Go ahead and cut me!”
DD: No, I didn’t pull a knife on him. I used to carry one of those Leatherman
tools with the pliers and screwdrivers. Because I’m a bass player, it’s
like my tech weapon, my need all/be all tool, and the thing was, he was just
being annoying and hood-like. He was struttin’ around talking about —
TW: You guys almost got into it. You were saying, “Dude, I could have
you fired!”
DD: The guy is so unappreciative. He comes riding in on a show that I was a
part of and that I helped build, talking about how life sucks and everything
else and I’m like, “Dude, you’re making thousands a week. Life
sucks? What are you talking about?” So, what happened was, I told him off
and he came around the corner and I had taken my knife out and was cutting up
a piece of rope that I had spied and needed to use for some odd… I don’t
know, I was always doing something, you know, to keep myself occupied. I was
cutting a piece of rope and he comes around the corner when I turned around
and he goes, “Oh, got a knife, huh? I suppose you think you’re tough.”
He just started going off for the wrong reasons. I didn’t pull a knife
on him. I mean, come on. The guy is four-foot-seven… Let’s put it
this way, it’s the same as people out there who send you fan mail and get
together with you – especially, there are a lot of girls that will do this,
who try to hook up with you – then try to have your kid because they figure
they’re going to get all this money from you, or there’s people that
figure if they hang out with you, all of a sudden they’re going to be successes.
I’ve had two or three stalkers in my life.
TW: Any good stories?
DD: There’s this one girl who follows me around to clubs in my stand-up
career. I remember coming out of a club one day and this girl came up and told
me she wanted to hang out and everything. She was real glassy-eyed, almost like
she was on something, but she wasn’t. She was bluntly hitting on me. She
later showed up to my hotel and started pounding on my door saying, “I
know you’re in there, I know what you’re doing.” She slipped
her number under the door. In the morning, I found a note saying, “You
didn’t call me. You can’t treat people like this.” And I’m
like, dude, I don’t even know this girl. A couple of weeks later she showed
up at a show and I didn’t know if she had a gun or something. I come out
of the club and she’s standing in the rain, just soaking wet like something
out of a movie. She crosses the street breathing really heavy, gritting her
teeth, just staring at me. She’s shown up to other gigs. Sometimes she’ll
be nice, other times she’ll be crazy. I haven’t seen her in a while.
It’s been a couple of years, but that doesn’t mean she’s gone.
I’m hoping she’s found someone else to latch on to.
TW: Maybe she’s moved on to Urkel.
DD: I can only hope.
