If you need a reminder, Will got his big break when he was cast as Eric Matthews in the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World in 1993, at age 17, and is now best known for cohosting a rewatch podcast, Pod Meets World, with his former costars, Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong, who starred as Topanga and Shawn in the series, respectively.
And the party was basically a TGIF reunion, with Danielle and Rider among the Boy Meets World family to attend, alongside Betsy Randle, who played Will’s onscreen mom, Matthew Lawrence, who played Jack, and a whole bunch of writers and crew members from the show.
Other guests included ‘90s TV show legends such as Nate Richert, who played Harvey in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Secret World of Alex Mack star Natanya Ross, and Step by Step star Christine Lakin.
The theme of the event was ‘90s prom, because Will never got to go to prom himself, and all of the guests wholeheartedly embraced this theme with the dress code, with most attendees wearing a tux or a ‘90s-inspired prom dress.
But when Danielle shared a photo dump from the event on her Instagram, Rider was subjected to fierce scrutiny as followers questioned why he seemingly hadn’t made any effort for the celebration. If you’re wondering, the 46-year-old star showed up in baggy jeans and a bowling shirt:
One of the top comments on Danielle’s post reads: “Why is Rider severely underdressed 😂” Somebody else wrote: “Everyone looks so good all dress up! And Rider is also there! In jeans!” Another asked: “Why is rider just wearing normal clothes.”
“@rider_strong failed the assignment. Lighten up man! Life is too short! Have some fun!” one more wrote, while another jibed: “Ryder man, the 90's called again. They keep asking for that awful hair style back.” Somebody else asked: “Why is Ryder dressed like he came in off the street?”
The comments were even more harsh over on Reddit, where one person wrote: “Rider continuing his streak of being a **non-conformist** by not doing the theme what a dick.” Another added: “Disappointed Rider didn’t go with the theme even a little but oh well.”
And now, Rider has addressed the backlash on Monday’s episode of Pod Meets World, where he pointed out what most of us knew all along — he was dressed as his ‘90s self, complete with two books in the back pocket of his jeans, which was a nod to his pretentious behavior as a teenager.
Danielle kickstarted the conversation by telling Rider: “You set the internet ablaze with your outfit,” to which Rider mocked: “Because people were like: ‘Why didn’t Rider dress up, it’s so like Rider to just wear a bowling shirt!’ OK people! There was some intention; there was some thought behind this!”
Rider then explained that this had actually been his third-choice outfit, and he genuinely tried to get a tux for the day but didn’t have time, as he’d spent the six weeks before the party road-tripping across America. He began: “Alright. There were a couple of ideas I had. First of all, I thought about wearing the kilt that I graduated high school in.”
Danielle and Will said that they’d been on board with this idea, but Rider pointed out that nobody else would understand the outfit. He continued: “I thought that that would have been very, very funny to you two, and nobody else would have gotten it. You two would know that: ‘Oh, Rider graduated in a kilt, we remember that,’ and I still have it, but then I was like, everyone else is gonna just be baffled. I’m gonna be explaining this all night.”
“So, I was then like: ‘Oh, I'll just get a tux,’ but I was on the road, and getting the tux, you have to, like, go somewhere, and we came home the day before your birthday party, we came home for your birthday party,” Rider went on. “I’ve been on the road for six weeks in a camper van, so I was like… I could have done virtual trying ons, and then it struck me, why don't I just dress like I did in the ‘90s on your average Tuesday?”
“Which is JNCO jeans, with my books in the back pocket, and a bowling shirt. Like, a sort of trendy, cool,” he explained, with Will and Danielle noting that Rider also finessed “the perfect middle part” with his hair. Rider added: “I basically just time-traveled, went back, and embraced the full ‘90s. The JNCOs that I got, because I couldn’t get actual JNCOs, I had to get, like, whatever the modern equivalent is, they didn’t have the giant pockets in the back. So I had to find books that were small enough to cram in there.”
“But luckily, Catcher in the Rye, which made perfect sense, I read that on the set of Boy Meets World for the first time, and it was the edition that I actually read,” Rider shared. “And then I was able to find a Kerouac poetry book, which is actually what I would have been carrying around in my back pocket every day for years, so yeah, it worked out, but I think a lot of the internet was like: ‘Why didn’t Rider dress up?!’”
“But the people that got it really got it,” Will replied, referencing all of us who immediately knew that Rider was paying homage to his ’90s self in the pics, with Danielle adding: “Those of us who knew you at all from the ‘90s walked in and were like: ‘Oh my gosh! It’s great!’”
Elsewhere in the episode, the gang explained that 99-year-old Bill Daniels, who played Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World, and his wife, Bonnie Bartlett, were unfortunately unable to make it due to having another commitment that night.
You can read all about Will’s party here, and let me know your thoughts on Rider’s outfit in the comments below!
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