Mr. Belding is gone, and the coverage is thinner than the man deserved
Dennis Haskins, who played Principal Richard Belding across all six seasons of 'Saved by the Bell' and its revivals, died at 75. The coverage amounts to a wire obit passed between a handful of outlets. Dustin Diamond's 2021 death drew full retrospectives from a dozen publications within hours. Haskins, by most accounts the warmer and more beloved presence on set, got the scroll.
Dennis Haskins, 'Saved by the Bell' star Mr. Belding, dies at 75
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What happened
Dennis Haskins died on September 29, 2025, at age 75. He was best known for playing Principal Richard Belding on 'Saved by the Bell,' the NBC Saturday-morning staple that ran from 1989 to 1993 and spawned multiple spinoffs and a 2020 Peacock revival in which Haskins reprised the role. A statement attributed to a colleague described him as someone who 'absolutely LOVED his fans,' a reputation his public appearances over the decades bore out. He remained active at fan conventions long after the show ended. Coverage at time of writing is sparse, with three outlets confirmed on the story and no major print obituary yet published. That is the wire version. Three outlets have it, and the gap between his cultural footprint and the column inches is the whole story.
NY Post led with the eulogy quote and stopped there
The New York Post's Page Six ran the only substantive piece in this set, anchoring its report on a tribute quote: 'Everyone loved Mr. Belding and those of us who got to know Dennis, loved him even more. He was a great person.' The piece does not name who said it. No cause of death, no survivors, no career timeline beyond the show's name and his age. It is a notification dressed as an obituary, which is the genre most celebrity deaths get on day one, and which this one may not outlive.
What one side told you that the other didn't
No outlet has named a cause of death or surviving family.
The Post piece, the most complete in this set, gives an age and a quote. It does not say where Haskins died, who confirmed the death, whether family has issued a statement, or what he had been doing in the years since the 2020 Peacock revival. Those are the four facts that separate an obituary from a death notice. None of the three outlets here have them. If that information exists, it has not reached print.
The Peacock revival, his last major credit, goes unexamined.
Haskins reprised Belding in the 2020 Peacock reboot, which was notable partly for how explicitly it addressed the original show's retrograde gender and race dynamics. His willingness to return to that material, and what he said about it at the time, is the most interesting thread in his late career. None of the three outlets pull it. The coverage treats him as a nostalgia object rather than as someone who had a second act worth describing.
What to watch
If a cause of death or a family statement surfaces in the next 24 hours, watch whether the Times or a major entertainment outlet publishes a full retrospective. The 2020 Peacock revival gives editors a cultural-criticism hook beyond pure nostalgia. If that piece doesn't appear by Wednesday, it probably won't, and Haskins will have gotten the one-day scroll.
See how outlets across the political spectrum framed this differently — and what each side left out.