Rider Strong is sharing his feelings about Boy Meets World's prom episode.
During a recent installment of the Pod Meets World podcast, hosted by former costars Strong, Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle, Strong said that he had issues with the ABC coming-of-age sitcom's discussion — or lack thereof — about sex.
On the podcast episode, the co-hosts were answering questions from listeners and were asked about episodes that were allegedly "banned" from airing on the Disney Channel.
According to IMDb, season 5's "Prom-ises, Prom-ises" episode was one of them. In the episode, Fishel's character, Topanga Lawrence, considers having sex after her senior prom with her boyfriend Cory Matthews (played by Ben Savage).
"I remember being very upset during that entire week," Strong recalled, referencing filming of the show's prom episode. "I was very upset with the adults on our set — the way that they were approaching this, specifically because we were not discussing safe sex."
"The fact that we would not bring up Cory and Topanga using condoms or having a discussion about birth control at all, and yet the entire episode was about whether 'will they' or 'will they not' ... I just remember being so upset, and I brought it up. I remember talking to [creator] Michael [Jacobs] about it, saying, 'Can we talk about this?' "
Jacobs was the show's co-creator and spearheaded the production of its spinoff, Girl Meets World, along with April Kelly.
According to Strong, Jacobs did not listen to his concerns. "We were growing up in the era of AIDS, this is something that we have to talk about. When you are discussing losing your virginity, you discuss how you're going to do it and how to be safe about it," Strong said. "And he completely blew me off."
During the podcast, he said that Jacobs told him it was "a ridiculous thing to worry about" and that it did not need to be discussed. "I felt, at the time, that that was incredibly irresponsible," Strong said.
Fishel expressed that she also felt "uncomfortable" during the episode's creation, saying, "I don't have specific memories other than just, kind of, ickiness about the week."
Boy Meets World premiered in 1993 on ABC and ran for seven seasons until 2000.
