It’s not OK. Many celebrities have spoken out about feeling uncomfortable with how they’ve been sexualized in their various hit TV shows and movies.
Many Boy Meets World stars have voiced their thoughts on feeling objectified during their time on the fan-favorite ‘90s show. Will Friedle, who portrayed Eric Matthews throughout the series’ run, revealed on his podcast “Pod Meets World” — which he cohosts with his former BMWCostars Rider StrongAnd Danielle Fishel — just how “creepy” some of his kissing scenes were.
“[Guest star] Marguerite MoreauWhen she arrived, we spoke a bit about [our kissing scene] because it wasn’t like, ‘Hi, nice to see you, now I have to jump on you and throw my tongue down your throat,’ it’s really creepy,” the Kim PossibleAugust 2022, voice actor. “It was hugely uncomfortable. Everyone talks like, ‘Oh man, you get to kiss all those girls!’ But it’s not as awesome as you might think it is.”
He continued: “It really is horribly uncomfortable, and to do it in front of an audience and hearing people go ‘woo’ and all this, it’s really uncomfortable.”
For his part, Strong — who portrayed heartthrob Shawn Hunter in all seven series of the show — praised the role of an intimacy coordinator, which he and his costars did not have on set at the time. He also shared his thoughts on the difference between sexually charged scenes back in the ‘90s to the 2020s.
“Back then it seemed like you were servicing the idea of having to be a little sexy, but now that would just seem out of place — I’m not watching the show for that,” the Cabin Fever star posited.
“Maybe it’s that the people writing the content are now uncomfortable asking real 12-, 13-, 14-, 15-year-olds?” Fishel, who played Topanga Lawrence on BMW, suggested. “I know when I’ve been on set [as an adult] the conversation is: ‘We would never ask a child to do that; we’re not doing that because that’s an uncomfortable thing to ask any 14-year-old to do.’”
There have been many other instances of objectification on popular shows. Scott Patterson, for one, spoke out in August 2022 about a “disturbing and disgusting” scene on Gilmore GirlsLorelai (Lauren Graham) and Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) ogled his character Luke’s behind.
“I realize it wasn’t OK and it didn’t make me feel comfortable at all. It made me feel embarrassed, actually,” he said on his “I’m All In” podcast at the time. “It’s infuriating to be treated that way because you’re being treated like an object. It’s disturbing and disgusting and I had to endure it through that scene and many takes.”
Euphoriastar Jacob ElordiFor his part, he revealed to Men’s HealthHe described in December 2021 how uncomfortable it was to film shirtless scenes for the HBO series.Kissing Booth films.
“You learn quickly that what people take away from those movies is your stature and your figure. You have all sorts of aged people around the world only talking about what you look like,” he said about the Netflix movies. “I don’t think it’s really a conversation that people have in regards to men. It doesn’t keep me up at night, but it’s definitely frustrating.”
Keep scrolling to see stars’ reactions to feeling objectified on screen:
