'Boy Meets World' Star Rider Strong Says We Need to Bring Back ‘Shame'

[TMC]

https://people.com/boy-meets-world-r...ce=twitter.com

‘Boy Meets World’ first premiered in 1993 and ran for seven seasons

By Tereza Shkurtaj and Kristen O'Brien

Published on March 21, 2026 10:00AM EDT

• On March 16, 2026, Rider Strong made an appearance at the iHeart Podcast Awards at SXSW
• Also in attendance were Clayton Echard, Jeremy Piven and Eric Andre
• During the event, the Boy Meets World actor spoke to PEOPLE about a specific aspect of the ‘90s he would bring back today

Rider Strong remains closely tied to a generation that grew up watching him as Shawn Hunter on Boy Meets World, a role that helped define 1990s television and coming-of-age storytelling.

Years after the show ended, the 46-year-old actor continues to reflect on the cultural values of that era and how they compare to today. During the iHeart Podcast Awards on March 16, he offered a candid perspective on shifting attitudes toward authenticity, revealing the one thing he'd love to see come back from the '90s.

“You know what I would love is, I think the whole notion of selling out was like a joke, you know, back then, like, you didn't want to sell out, and then of course now it's everyone sells out,” Strong tells PEOPLE.

Strong suggests that while the ‘90s may have taken a rigid stance, the current landscape has swung too far in the opposite direction. As a result, the actor says he would like people to have "a little bit of shame about selling out."

“Just a little bit of shame,” he adds. “Like, we could bring that back because I realized that the '90s were too extreme about that, but I also think that now we're too far in the other direction of just everybody's a commercial for everything."

While Strong believes that public figures nowadays often align closely with branding and promotion, he notes that "we should find a balance.”

Strong’s breakout role on Boy Meets World made him a recognizable face of 1990s pop culture, where themes of friendship, identity and integrity were central to the show’s appeal.

His character, Shawn, often navigated questions of loyalty and personal values that resonated with younger audiences at the time. That cultural backdrop adds context to Strong’s recent comments, which revisited how ideas about authenticity were discussed during that decade.