Movies

Trina McGee Explains Why She Wasn’t in the ‘Boy Meets World’ Finale

September 18, 2022

Another “Boy Meets World” mystery was solved on a recent episode of the rewatch podcast, “Pod Meets World.” Trina McGee, who portrayed Angela Moore for the sitcom’s final three seasons, has revealed why she wasn’t in the series finale.

“It’s ground we haven’t covered. I was told, in a somewhat bizarre and flippant way, by a very important person, that you all went to [showrunner] Michael Jacobs, and you said, “We don’t want her in the last episode.” It kind of takes our light. [That] was the main thing,” said McGee, who played Shawn Hunter’s (Rider Strong) girlfriend on the show. “I was told that after shooting what the show was before the last episode, which was called ‘Angela’s Ashes’ when I left. When Michael told me we were going to do another show on Angela , I was so happy, not knowing that it would be the show before the last show.

Co-hosts Strong, Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle were shocked and appalled by the claim – and felt awful that he was told this 22 years ago.

“I remember after I taped the show, I said to one person, ‘Why aren’t we on the last show?’ ‘Cause I know the last show was going to be the one with the ratings and the crying and everything, I felt like you all got together and didn’t want me on the last show, for some reason I was going to take a little shine or something to that effect,” she continued. “It hurt me a lot for a long time. To make matters worse, people of color sometimes tend to look at things a little deeper. So I had cousins calling me, saying, ‘How come you weren’t in the last episode? They just gave you this whole show so you’d be distracted and not be on the show with the real ratings? Several of my cousins, members of my family told me that… Honestly, I’ve had that in my head for 20 years.

Friedle was not happy with the claim. “Can we say for the record, Trina, that never happened,” he said. “It’s not competitiveness, it’s sociology. It makes me angry. It’s the next level.

McGee kindly replied, “I believe you. I can tell by your reactions. I’ve had this in my head for so long and never watched this show. I always felt like, uh… It hurt me for a long time.

While Fishel and McGee recalled being pitted against each other, the men said it wasn’t the same for them.

“It’s true that we didn’t play against each other, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say we weren’t manipulated,” Strong said. Friedle replied, “Oh no, that’s different. Handled all the time. But it wasn’t whispering in one ear, whispering in another ear about something else.

Matthew Lawrence, Trina McGee, Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, Maitland Ward and Rider Strong on “Boy Meets World”.

©ABC/courtesy Everett Collection

During the episode, McGee also looked back at an op-ed she wrote for the Daily News, in which she defended that “Boy Meets World” didn’t address the fact that Shawn and Angela were in an interracial relationship. She shared on the podcast that her publicist and husband actually wrote the article, which was posted under her byline, but she disagreed.

“I was very confused at the time about whether to talk about it or not – I had two areas of thought: my work and humanity,” she said. “It wasn’t totally my organic view. Funny enough, a rebuttal was written to the Daily News by Lorraine Toussaint, who said: ‘No, you have to recognize that these are two different races meeting…’ If I had to start over and could take my true stand – retrospective and everything, I would have written the opposite article.

Strong also recalled talking to McGee about the subject, also wondering why they didn’t talk about it.

Prior to the family sitcom, McGee had starred in several sitcoms with black actors, including “A Different World,” “Martin” and “Family Matters.”

“Coming from black sitcoms, I always had to have like a black meter… My black meter was probably at 2. I remember when I was doing the ‘Angela’s Ashes’ episode, somehow my black meter had slipped and I was at about a 9. Michael came up to me and his note was, ‘Hey Trina, just turn the Thelma Hopkins down about eight notches,’” she said, noting that the producer was referring to the black “Family Matters” actor. “I knew exactly what he was talking about and I did. … There’s so many things you’re so lucky you didn’t have to think about.

Years ago, McGee and Friedle shared an interaction they had on set that he says completely changed his life. They recounted the conversation on the podcast, noting that on set, McGee came out of the locker room wearing a red scarf.

“In my head, I didn’t attach any cultural significance to it. I saw a person I thought was my friend but didn’t know very well, wearing a big red hat. That’s all I saw,” Friedle explained. “I was like, ‘You’re part of the cast, so that means, I’m going to laugh at you the same way that I laugh at [of others].’ I thought, ‘I’m going to laugh at his red hat.’ That’s all my privileged foolish mind saw. So just before I continued on for my part, I walked by and said, “I like your syrup,” and walked onto set thinking, “Boom, zing! I just got it for his hat.

After the scene, McGee told Friedle her comment referring to her as Aunt Jemima was not well.

“I remember saying to you, ‘I thought it was like you were calling me the jolly green giant.’ You were like, ‘No, it’s not the same thing at all.’ “, Said Friedle. “Never use the weather as an excuse but in the mid 90’s I had no idea what the cultural significance of the Aunt Jemima character was, none of that…I had never heard of that! I was mortified.

After she explained the offensive comment to him, he apologized and they hugged – but he was “literally shaking” afterwards. McGee recalled feeling “very small”, to which Friedle replied, “How could you not?”

“It literally changed my life,” he continued. “That moment was when I was like, you can’t just say things. You can’t throw stuff out there, because you think it’s funny and you walk away. You could hurt people.