'Boy Meets World' star Rider Strong says someone sent him fan mail in the '90s urging him to 'kill' people
Rider Strong said he was sent letters while on "Boy Meets World" from someone wanting him to "kill" people.
He said the letters were "intercepted" by Disney, but he learned about them later from a producer.
Strong said the writers thought that since his character Shawn was a "troubled outsider," he'd murder people.
On Thursday's episode of the "Boy Meets World" podcast "Pod Meets World," Rider Strong recalled letters he was sent while working on the hit TGIF sitcom that were so disturbing Disney decided to alert authorities.
At about the 14-minute mark of the podcast, while talking about odd fan interactions, Strong told his cohosts and former costars Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle that he received "a series of letters where this guy was describing people's daily lives" with the hope that Strong would use information about where the people lived and worked because the letter writer wanted him to kill those people.
"This guy was like, asking me to become a hitman for him," Strong, who played troubled teen Shawn Hunter on the show for all seven seasons, continued. "And was like, listing out people's daily schedules in order for me to kill them."
Strong clarified that he never personally saw the letters, which were presumably sent to him in the 1990s when "Boy Meets World" was at the height of its popularity.
Personnel at Disney "intercepted" the letters, according to the former actor. Eventually, producers on the show and executives at Disney collected the letters and had a "big discussion" about what steps to take next, Strong recalled.
Strong said he wondered why he, out of all the cast members, was targeted when he learned about the letters years later from a producer.
"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 uncomfortable laugh.
Strong wasn't the only "Boy Meets World" cast member to have a scary fan interaction while on the show. His story about the letters came up on Thursday's Q&A episode because Fishel was finishing a story she had told on an earlier episode of the podcast that involved a stalker coming to her school.
She told listeners that she was working on the day the man showed up, so adults at her school knew something was wrong because an adult who was actually close to her would know her work and school schedule. They alerted her parents, and the family was able to take legal action.
New episodes of "Pod Meets World" are released weekly.
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