Key Takeaways
- Decision Explanation: The podcast hosts chose to omit comments about Fred Savage to respect Ben Savage.
- Allegations Context: Fred Savage faced multiple allegations over the years, impacting his career.
- Group Consensus: The omission was a collective decision made by the podcast hosts.
- Respect for Co-Star: The choice was influenced by concerns about how Ben Savage would feel regarding the acknowledgment.
The Boy Meets World podcast hosts drew attention when they revealed why they left out remarks about Fred Savage. The actors explained their choice while reflecting on the show’s history and their relationship with Ben Savage.
Here’s what we know about the decision, the concerns behind it, and how they addressed the omission.
The Boy Meets World stars explained on Pod Meets World why they cut comments about allegations against Fred Savage.
Danielle Fishel admitted, “I had a fear that Ben was going to hear it and he’s going to be angry at me for acknowledging this,” explaining that the choice was made out of respect for co-star Ben Savage, Fred’s younger brother. Rider Strong added, “I don’t know if we have any special access to more information about the Fred situation… all we could really do is say… which is in the public eye, but then we were like: ‘Why are we connecting these dots?’”
The 1998 episode “Everybody Loves Stuart” showed Fred Savage as a college professor pursuing Topanga, played by Danielle Fishel. Offscreen, Savage faced several allegations. In 1993, a Wonder Years costume designer accused him and Jason Hervey of harassment, and the case was settled.
In 2018, Grinder’s costume designer, Youngjoo Hwang, accused him of assault and intimidation. Fox cleared him in an internal probe, and the lawsuit was later settled. ABC fired Savage as executive producer and director of The Wonder Years reboot in May 2022 after an investigation into alleged misconduct, which he denied.
Fishel revealed that the trio had recorded an acknowledgment but cut it. “Out of respect for Ben… I just didn’t want to add one more thing,” she explained. Strong emphasized they didn’t feel it would change their analysis of the episode: “Does that change the analysis of the episode, really? And our discussion? Not really.”
Will Friedle noted the omission was a group decision, saying, “We probably fumbled it where we should have at least acknowledged it… but that’s all it would have been: acknowledging what everybody else knows from the news, because there’s literally nothing we could add to it.”
