UPDATE 05/26/16: Dustin "Screech" Diamond is back in jail. The former Saved by the Bell star was booked in as an inmate in Port Washington, Wisconsin Wednesday, the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office confirmed to Complex. He is currently being detained for probation violation. Additional details were not made immediately available.
See original story from 05/18/16 below.
Dustin Diamond is ready for a comeback. The storied actor, best known for playing Screech on the classic '90s TV show Saved by the Bell, just finished up a three-month stint in jail that brought him renewed publicity but plenty of headaches. Speaking with Saved by the Bell co-star Mario Lopez on Extra, Diamond insisted that he's finally putting the "tomfoolery and malarkey" behind him.
"It's pretty daunting, it's pretty scary going into that environment," Diamond told Lopez when asked about jail. "I found that as long as you follow the rules and stay with the system, it works. You can get in and out unscathed." Diamond was found guilty of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon following a bar fight in 2014, a fight Diamond says started with a photo request while he and his fiancée Amanda Schutz were out throwing down for Xmas.
"One of the girl's friends [Amanda] was talking to sucker-punched my fiancée… she leaned back to me and her face was covered in blood," Diamond said. Another man joined the dispute by grabbing Amanda's hair, which prompted Diamond to leap into protection mode. "I opened my pocket knife and said, 'Let my wife go immediately,' which worked," he said. As for any alleged stabbing, Diamond offered a clarification.
By Diamond's account, the allegedly stabbed individual simply "nicked his arm" on the tip of his knife when he grabbed Diamond by the throat. "It was a Band-Aid," Diamond said. "The most expensive Band-Aid I've ever bought."
Diamond also distanced himself from previous controversies, including the 2006 Screeched sex tape starring an alleged "stunt person" and a tell-all book that painted less-than-flattering portraits of his co-stars. "Imagine how I feel, I haven't talked to Marc Paul or Elizabeth or Tiffani in ages, so I can't imagine what they think, and I'm hoping this will clear it up," he said. "It wasn't me, I didn't write this. I was just as shocked and appalled."
Welcome back, Screech.
