Boy Meets World stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong have opened up about their past relationships with actors who guest starred on the series.
Friedl, Strong and co-star Danielle Fishel used Monday's episode of the rewatch podcast “Pod Meets World” to address their relationship with series replacement Brian Peck. According to Fishel, Fishel began guest starring on the children's sitcom during season 5 in 1997.
“We recognized that this merited a more in-depth discussion, especially even though we as the organizers had yet to figure out everything involved, and the debate surrounding this subject We know it’s becoming more culturally active,” Fishel said.
Peck was arrested in August 2003 on suspicion of lewd acts against a child, according to a Los Angeles Police Department press release. The arrest stems from a 2001 incident in which the actor allegedly sexually abused a child he was coaching over a six-month period. Mr. Fishel said in the episode that Mr. Peck was subsequently “convicted and spent 16 months in prison.”
Even though Peck was in his late 30s at the time of the production, Friedl and Strong said he bonded easily with the younger actors.
“I didn't go to parties. I didn't do much of that. But after 'Boy Meets World,' I was working a lot and this guy was totally in my life, so I was like, 'I don't know what to do.' After Boy Meets World, I took him to three shows after Boy Meets World,'' Friedl said. “This was the type of thing where he introduced people who were really good at their jobs and great, interesting people that you wanted to hang out with.”
Fishel, who said he never had a close relationship with Peck, said Peck's actions were overlooked at the time due to the “rampant” homophobia of the 1990s, including because he was an openly gay man. I surmised that Peck's position there had an influence.
“The other adults on set probably should have said, 'Why are you going to lunch with this guy?' Are you going to be gay?'' Perhaps some of them are thinking, “This is the dividing line between being gay and not being gay.'' “This is the line between adults and children.'Maybe there were parts of it that I didn't say because I was afraid it would be seen as homophobic,” Fishel said. “So I think it's also important in Ryder and Will's story why he became so close to them.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Peck's representatives for comment.
Will Friedle and Rider Strong talk about Brian Peck's sexual misconduct
When Mr. Peck was arrested in 2003, Mr. Friedl and Mr. Strong said that Mr. Peck fabricated a legal case in which he was victimized by a minor with whom he had a sexual relationship.
“He's not saying nothing happened,” Strong said. “So by the time we hear about this case and know something about it, it's always, 'I did this, I'm guilty. I'm going to take whatever punishment the government decides, but I… ’” And we bought that storyline. ”
Ms. Friedl also recalled going to court to show support for Ms. Peck, along with other child actors who knew Ms. Peck.
“We're sitting in court on the wrong side of everything,” Friedl said. “The victim's mother turned around and said, 'Look at all the celebrities you brought in. And it doesn't change what you did to my child. I just went there wanting to die. I was sitting there and I was like, “What the hell, I am?” Are you doing it here? 'It was terrifying all the way through. ”
“There are real victims here, and he turned us against the victims, and now we're on his team,” Friedl added, expressing his support for Peck. He called it “eternal shame.” “It's something I can't and won't get over.”
Rider Strong recalls running into Brian Peck years later on grooming charges
Strong said she met Peck at a party about seven years ago and called the interaction “one of the most powerful experiences of my life.”
“It felt like an out-of-body experience talking to him and finally hearing him scream his name,” Strong said. “The stories he was telling me were nonsense. But what he was letting me know was that he was hanging out with celebrities who legitimized him and put him in the category of Hollywood royalty.” He used to do it all the time when we were on the set of “Boy Meets World,'' but it was so easy that I never saw it. ”
Although Strong expressed concern that his and Friedl's accounts could overshadow the show's history, Friedl emphasized the importance of addressing this part of his past.
“This has to do with who I am and who I am as a 47-year-old man, and this has affected me as a person,” Friedl said. “It doesn't affect my memory of the show in any way. In fact, most of my memories of this character and this operation happened after 'Boy' for me. So… I think people will be disconnected from the two. “
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