Trina McGee has made amends with her former Boy Meets World co-stars. McGee recently opened up about speaking out about the hostile work environment on the set of the sitcom, and subsequently reconciling with both Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle in the wake of her remarks.
Earlier this year, McGee went public on Twitter about her negative experiences as the only Black actress on the celebrated ’90s show. She recounted being called “Aunt Jemima” by Friedle, and feeling unwelcome by other actors on the show — including Fishel, when McGee guest starred on the revival series, Girl Meets World, in 2015.
“Danielle decide to be really tight and not talk,” MeGee recalled in a recent interview with Yahoo Entertainment, recalling her interaction with Fishel at the time. “We did discuss it recently, because she called me to apologize. She was going through a lot at the time on a person level.”
Fishel took to Twitter back in June to publicly apologize to McGee for being “cold” on the set of the revival series.
After Fishel posted a message of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, a fan quickly called her out, asking if she’d ever apologized to McGee for her on-set behavior.
“I owed @realtrinamcgee an apology for being rude, cold, & distant when she guest starred on GMW (her tweet regarding warm hellos being met with cold blank stares was about me). Trina and I spoke over a month ago and she gracefully accepted my apology,” Fishel responded.
I owed @realtrinamcgee an apology for being rude, cold, & distant when she guest starred on GMW (her tweet regarding warm hellos being met with cold blank stares was about me). Trina and I spoke over a month ago and she gracefully accepted my apology. ❤️
— Danielle Fishel Karp (@daniellefishel) June 7, 2020
“My relationship with her right now is decent. We’re very complimentary of each other,” McGee explained in her recent interview. “She goes out of her way to say, ‘Hey, are you OK?’ She actually just sent me a cute picture of her baby… so I’m not trying to hang around and have a grudge against the girl or anything, I’m just slowly trying to take steps to trusting.”
After McGee previously detailed her experiences on Twitter, she took to Instagram in April and revealed that Friedle had wholeheartedly apologized multiple times for his racially insensitive comments during their time on Boy Meets World.
“He apologized to me 22 years ago and again days ago in a in a three-page letter,” she wrote alongside a photo of them hugging from their time on the show. “We talked more on it and he acknowledged that he really wasn’t educated enough in his early twenties to know he was truly offending me. THIS SHOULD AND COULD BE A TEACHING MOMENT FOR ALL. For all people of all races or different backgrounds.”
“He has conveyed to me how much this has changed his perception of comedy. And humanity,” she continued. “Will apologized to me and I forgave him, I then apologized to him for making the statements public because his joke came out of just not knowing, not viciousness and he forgave me. That’s what friends do.”
MeGee told Yahoo Entertainment that Friedle told her that he’s worked hard to grow as a person and become more self-aware and respectful in the wake of his past remarks.
“He said that since that day, that he called me Aunt Jemima, that it had been a journey for him,” she shared. “That it was a journey of thinking about himself, thinking about what he’s been taught as what is acceptable to other cultures and what might hurt people. That’s what I call putting the work in.”
