'Boy meets World' star Rider Strong recalls getting disturbing fan letters urging him to 'kill' people
On Thursday's episode of the podcast 'Pod Meets World', Rider Strong recalled some fan letters he received while working on the popular TGIF show. The messages were so disturbing that Disney had to notify the authorities.
The popular sitcom 'Boy Meets World' premiered in 1993. Actors Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong who played Topanga, Eric, and Shawn in the show have come up with their own podcast 'Pod Meets World' today where they rewatch every episode of the iconic series, sharing memories, behind the scenes moments, and all the 'Boy Meets World' stories a fan could ever want.
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During a discussion about strange fan interactions at around the 14-minute mark of the podcast, Strong revealed to his co-hosts and former co-stars Fishel and Friedle that he had received "a series of letters where this guy was describing people's daily lives" hoping that Strong would use the information in order to kill those people.
"I started getting letters and Disney intercepted them and brought them to the Producer's attention and there was a series of letters where this guy was describing people's daily lives," Strong, who played troubled teen Shawn Hunter on the show for all seven seasons, said in the podcast. "They wanted me to kill them. This guy was asking me to be a hitman for him, and was listing how people's schedules were, in order for me to kill them."
Strong clarified that he never really saw the letters but they were sent to him in the '90s, during the height of 'Boy Meets World's fame. The letters were "intercepted" by Disney employees and the officials and show producers eventually had a "big discussion" about what to do next, Strong recalled.
When Strong learned about the letters years later from a producer, he recalled wondering why he, out of all the cast members, had been singled out. "I think the writers at the time, they were like, there's something about Shawn Hunter as this sort of troubled outsider that this guy thought maybe like, I would be the person to go perform these murders for him," Strong said with an awkward laugh.
Strong wasn't the only member of the cast to experience a scary fan encounter. Fishel previously shared in an episode of the podcast about a stalker in her school. She told listeners that she was working the day the stalker showed up at her school claiming to be someone Fishel knew. The adults at her school knew something was wrong because an adult who was actually close to her would know her work and school schedule. She said they alerted her parents and the family was able to take legal action against the man.