One other “Boy Meets World” thriller was solved throughout a latest episode of the rewatch podcast, “Pod Meets World.” Trina McGee, who portrayed Angela Moore throughout the remaining three seasons of the sitcom, revealed why she wasn’t a part of the sequence finale.
“That is some floor we have now not coated. I used to be advised, in type of a bizarre, off-handed approach by a vital particular person, that you just guys all went to [showrunner] Michael Jacobs, and also you stated, ‘We don’t need her within the final episode. She’s by some means taking our mild.’ [That] was the gist of it,” stated McGee, who performed Shawn Hunter’s (Rider Robust) girlfriend on the present. “I used to be advised that after I shot what was the present earlier than the final episode, which was known as ‘Angela’s Ashes’ after I left. When Michael introduced to me, we’re going to do one other present on Angela, I used to be so pleased, not realizing this was going to be the present earlier than the final present.”
Co-hosts Robust, Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle have been shocked and appalled over that declare — and felt terrible that she was advised that 22 years in the past.
“I bear in mind after we taped the present, I had stated to an individual, ‘Why aren’t we on the final present?’ As a result of I do know the final present was going to be the one with the rankings and the crying and all of the stuff. I used to be beneath the impression that y’all bought collectively and didn’t need me within the final present, for some motive I used to be going to take some shine or one thing to that impact,” she continued. “That was actually hurtful to me for a very long time. To make it worse, individuals of colour are inclined to look into issues slightly tougher generally. So I had cousins calling me, saying, ‘How come you weren’t within the final episode? They simply gave you that complete present so that you just’d be distracted and wouldn’t be within the present with the true rankings?’ A number of of my cousins, my relations have been telling me this… I’ve truthfully had that in my head for 20 years.”
Friedle was not pleased concerning the declare. “Can we are saying for the report, Trina, that by no means occurred,” he stated. “That’s not competitiveness, that’s sociopathy. This pisses me off. That is subsequent degree.”
McGee kindly replied, “I imagine you. I can inform by your reactions. I’ve had that in my head for thus lengthy, and I’ve by no means watched that present. I’ve at all times felt like, ugh… That harm me a very long time.”
Whereas Fishel and McGee remembered being pitted in opposition to one another, the boys stated that it wasn’t the identical for them.
“It’s true that we weren’t performed in opposition to one another, however I received’t go to date to say we weren’t manipulated,” Robust stated. Friedle responded, “Oh no, that’s completely different. Manipulated on a regular basis. But it surely wasn’t whispering in a single ear, whispering in one other ear about one thing else.”
In the course of the episode, McGee additionally appeared again at an op-ed that she wrote for the Day by day Information, wherein she defended the truth that “Boy Meets World” didn’t handle that Shawn and Angela have been in an interracial relationship. She shared on the podcast that her publicist and husband really wrote the piece, which was printed beneath her byline, however that she didn’t agree.
“I used to be very confused on the time about whether or not to speak about it or not — I had two realms of considering: my job and mankind,” she stated. “It wasn’t completely my natural view. Humorous sufficient, a rebuttal was written to the Day by day Information by Lorraine Toussaint, who stated, ‘No, you have to acknowledge that these are two completely different races getting collectively…’ If I needed to do it over and I might take my actual stance — hindsight and every part — I might have wrote the alternative article.”
Robust additionally remembered speaking to McGee concerning the matter, additionally questioning why they weren’t discussing it.
Earlier than the household sitcom, McGee had starred on a number of sitcoms with Black casts, together with “A Completely different World,” “Martin” and “Household Issues.”
“Coming from Black sitcoms, I at all times needed to have like a Black meter… My Black meter was most likely right down to a 2. I bear in mind after I was doing ‘Angela’s Ashes’ episode, by some means my Black meter had slipped up and I used to be at a couple of 9. Michael came visiting to me and his be aware was, ‘Hey Trina, simply flip down the Telma Hopkins about eight notches,’” she stated, noting that the producer was referencing the Black “Household Issues” actor. “I knew precisely what he was speaking about and I did. … There are such a lot of belongings you guys are so fortunate you didn’t have to consider.”
Years in the past, McGee and Friedle shared an interplay they’d on set that he says fully modified his life. They recounted the dialog on the podcast, noting that on set, McGee got here out of the dressing room in a crimson scarf.
“In my head, I hooked up no cultural significance to that by any means. I noticed an individual who I assumed was my pal however didn’t know very nicely, carrying an enormous, crimson hat. That’s all I noticed,” Friedle defined. “I used to be like, ‘You’re a part of the forged, so meaning, I’m gonna make enjoyable of you an identical approach I make enjoyable [of others].’ I assumed, ‘Gonna make enjoyable of her crimson hat.’ That’s so far as my dumbass, privileged thoughts noticed. So proper earlier than I walked on in my opinion, I walked by and went, ‘Love your syrup,’ and walked on to the set, considering ‘Increase, zing! Simply bought her for her hat.’”
After the scene, McGee advised Friedle his remark referring to her as Aunt Jemima was not okay.
“I bear in mind saying to you, ‘I assumed that was such as you calling me the jolly inexperienced large.’ You have been like, ‘No, that’s not the identical factor in any respect.’” Friedle stated. “By no means use the time as an excuse however the mid-90s, I had no concept of the cultural significance of the Aunt Jemima character, any of that stuff… I had by no means heard that! I used to be mortified.”
After she defined the offensive remark to him, he apologized they usually hugged — however he was “actually shaking” afterward. McGee recalled feeling “very small,” to which Friedle responded, “How might you not?”
“It actually modified my life,” he continued. “That second was the second the place I used to be like, you may’t simply say stuff. You may’t throw stuff on the market, since you suppose it’s humorous and stroll away. You can be hurting individuals.”
