“Saved by the Bell” alum Dustin Diamond has been admitted to a Florida hospital after experiencing pain all over his body, a spokesperson told HuffPost on Wednesday.
Diamond, who played the geeky Screech in the high school sitcom and in two follow-up shows between 1989 and 2000, “is waiting for more tests,” including those for cancer, the rep said.
“It doesn’t look good and that’s where we’re at right now,” said the rep, who asked not to be identified. “Next week we will really know what’s wrong.”
TMZ originally reported Diamond’s situation, quoting unnamed sources saying that the actor also felt a “sense of unease” and was being tested for serious illness.
Diamond, 44, was excluded from the recent reboot of “Saved by the Bell” on Peacock, although former co-star Elizabeth Berkley kept the door open for a possible Screech return in the future.
“I don’t know if he will make an appearance,” Berkley said on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” in November. “We’ll see. If there’s another season.”
Diamond reportedly angered his co-stars by writing a critical tell-all that he has since said was doctored by a ghostwriter. He’s had trouble with the law, too, including a 2014 arrest and jailing in connection with a barroom stabbing. In 2006 he earned notoriety of a different sort, releasing a sex tape called “Screeched.” He later said he used a body-double.
“People to this day look down on me” for the tape, he said in a 2014 interview.