Let’s talk about sex.
“Boy Meets World” star Rider Strong revealed on his “Pod Meets World” podcast that he was not happy when showrunner Michael Jacobs allegedly dismissed his push to include dialogue about safe sex on a pivotal episode.
Strong, along with co-stars Will Friedle and Danielle Fishel, answered listener-submitted questions on Thursday’s show. One fan asked about the three series episodes — which all related to either sex or alcohol — that didn’t air in re-runs on the Disney Channel.
The sitcom ran for seven seasons on ABC, between September 1993 and May 2000, before syndication on the mouse house’s channel.
Strong said he took particular issue with the Season 5 episode titled “Prom-ises, Prom-ises,” during which Topanga (Fishel) and Cory (Ben Savage) consider losing their virginity to each other on their prom night without any mention of safe sex or birth control.
“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 ‘will they’ or ‘will they not’… I remember just being so upset and I brought it up, I remember talking to Michael about it and saying: ‘Can we talk about this?’” Strong recalled.
“‘Maybe you generationally don’t understand that, but 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 Jacobs dismissed his concerns.
“He completely blew me off and told me it was a ridiculous thing to worry about, and that we don’t even need to discuss it. I felt, at the time, that that was incredibly irresponsible,” Strong said about the episode, which aired in 1998.
Fishel agreed with the recollection, saying, “I remember also feeling very uncomfortable the whole week for similar reasons, but I don’t have specific memories other than just, kind of, ickiness about the week.”
The Post has contacted a rep for Jacobs for comment.
On a September episode of the podcast, the cast discussed Friedle’s on-set joke, where he likened his black co-star Trina McGee to Aunt Jemima.