Devon Werkheiser Had Falling Out With ‘Ned’s Declassified’ Costar Daniel Curtis Lee Over Attempted ‘Cult’ Recruitment
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Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide alums Devon Werkhesier and Daniel Curtis Lee once had a falling-out over a misunderstanding involving a cult.
“Remember that time I tried to get you to go to this workshop that is cult-adjacent and then you were, like, mad at me for a couple years?” Werkheiser, 33, asked Lee during the Wednesday, May 29, episode of their podcast with former costar Lindsay Shaw. “That was the only time Daniel and I went through a time where we didn't talk for a little while after that, cause we always stayed in touch."
“No, no, no. It was a cult,” Lee, also 33, countered. “It was not cult-adjacent. And yes, [you] tried to get me to join it.”
Lee, who played Simon “Cookie” Nelson-Cook on Ned’s Declassified, went on to explain why he temporarily distanced himself from Werkhesier, who played the titular role, after he tried to recruit him into the unnamed group.
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“I was already going through my own stuff, right, but I did not need that at the time, bro. That was the last interaction that I wanted to have with anybody," he said. “I already had a thing about people trying to sell fulfillment through religion.”
Lee also noted that the conversation happened at a time when the pair “weren’t spending that much time together,” so it felt like Werkheiser only “called to check up” on him to recruit him.
“I walked out of that restaurant,” Lee recalled. “I stormed up out of there, bro. … [I was like], ‘These Hollywood motherf—kers. They’re all the same. … He’ll literally sell me out to make maybe $100.’”
Werkhesier clarified that there was “no commission” for recruiting new members, but admitted there was “pressure while you’re in that program to sign up people in your life.” He also defended his intentions, noting that Lee was not in a good headspace at the time.
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"Daniel's telling me, like, he doesn't believe in f—kng people or the world or food. Daniel was in a dark time. I'm like, ‘I can offer Daniel a place where he could grow and become the man he wants to be and thrive,’” he explained. “And meanwhile, Daniel's like, 'I don't trust you, motherf—ker.’”
Werkhesier also argued that he didn’t know anyone who’d had a “bad experience” with the workshops.
“There’s some, like, self-development workshops out there in the world that are borderline culty, but also do provide a space for self-development and learning,” he said.
While the pals have since mended their friendship — they launched their podcast with Shaw, 35, in February 2023 — Lee stood by his opinion that Werkhesier’s attempted recruitment crossed a line.
“I was hurt, bro,” he said. “I just was going through a couple things. … So, it was refreshing thinking, 'Oh, yeah – Dev, we'll catch up.’”
Werkheiser said it was “brutal” knowing that Lee was “vulnerable” and in need of “just a safe space” when he pitched the workshop to him.
“But on my side, when I saw actually how you were [struggling], it made me even more like, ‘No, no, you really should go to this thing,’” he said as Lee and Shaw howled with laughter.
“It’s good to be able to look back at it and say, ‘You know, it was never that bad,’” Lee said.
