Screech, Dustin Diamond, from Saved By The Bell Has Stage 4 Cancer

When Peacock rebooted Saved By The Bell (the original show Kara was much more into than I) it was without the funny outcast, Screech, joining the gang.

Sadly, for Screech fans, it’s real life bad news for actor Dustin Diamond who played the goofy character, as various sources are reporting that he has stage 4 cancer and receiving treatment.

Reportedly, he had been in negotiation to appear in a season 2 of the reboot, should it have been greenlit. He’s going to need the money for treatment, according to the article linked below, because cancer treatments can cost upwards of $150,000/year.

With only a few hundred dollars left from his Saved by the Bell salary, Diamond threw himself into any projects he could score. That meant even doing a sex tape in 2006 and selling his t-shirt collection to save his home from foreclosure. He appeared in Celebrity Fit Club as the “bad guy” because it paid more. Diamond also published a book, “Behind the Bell,” in 2009 which drove a wedge between former cast members when they were painted in a negative light.

‘Saved by the Bell’: Does Dustin Diamond Have the Net Worth To Support Him During His New Health Crisis?

It’s both a blessing and a curse to be a young actor, playing an iconic TV role, getting typed, and then struggling to find acting work afterwards. On one hand, the fact that you ever are remembered for any part as an actor is a rare thing, but then to have it prevent you from being casted in future work is a bummer.

Whatever happened with Dustin Diamond’s acting career, cancer is the ultimate bummer. Someday maybe we’ll find a cure. I believe we will. In the meantime, here’s hoping Dustin Diamond survives this and maybe we’ll see him acting somewhere again.

A curious cancer-related sidenote is in the hit Netflix series Cobra Kai in season two Johnny revisits one of his old Cobra Kai pals who has cancer and they go out riding their motorcycles one last time. That actor really did have cancer and this was his last role before passing on. Sometimes real life and fantasy converge.

To end on a more positive note, and for fans of the reboot of Saved By The Bell? Season 2 has been greenlit.