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Ben Savagemight haverecently announcedhis run forRep. Adam Schiff’s seat in Congress— but that doesn’t mean hisBoy Meets Worldcastmates are ready to campaign for him.
Speaking on a recent episode of their show rewatch podcast,Pod Meets World, actorsDanielle Fishel,Rider Strong, andWill Friedlediscussed 42-year-old Savage’s foray into politics — and why they don’t feel it should be up to them to endorse him or not.
In the most recent podcast episode, which premiered Thursday, the trio rewatched season 2, episode 14 ofBoy Meets World, in which Savage’s character, Cory Matthews, runs for class president.
Prior to discussing the episode, Fishel brought up Savage’s run, saying, “We’ve been tagged in things, we’ve been asked [about his campaign], and we were contemplating what we were going to say, if we were going to say anything.”
Fishel then asked Friedle: “Will, what would you like to say about Ben Savage running for Congress?”
“I will say what I say any time anybody asks me to publicly speak about politics, which is I do not publicly speak about politics,” Friedle replied. “It’s just the way I was raised; you don’t talk about politics, you don’t talk about your sex life, you don’t talk about how much money you make, you just don’t. I do all my talking in the voting booth and I have since I was 18. And that is my answer.”
Fishel then asked Strong, who said, “I walked in to my local coffee shop a week ago and the guy behind the counter looked at me and went, ‘Hey, I heard you’re running for Senate.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s wrong on every level.’ And I guess what that pointed out to me was how much the wires can cross.'”
Strong continued: “It puts an undue pressure on us to a certain degree, and I get it … but the reality is, because I worked with somebody when I was 13 years old through 20, it’s interesting that we have the pressure to comment on it.”
“When we were younger, Ben and I basically didn’t agree on much politically. We often found ourselves on exact opposite sides of almost every issue,” Strong said. “Now, the important thing to state is that we were teenagers and it was 1993 through 2000, so maybe a lot has changed.”
Adding that he’s sure Savage’s views have at least slightly changed, he said he would “wait and see” what his former costar’s current beliefs are before offering his support. “I’m not going to endorse Ben simply because I had the same job as him when I was a teenager,” he said.
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Fishel weighed in, too, saying she felt similarly to Strong, but noted that she lived in a different district, and would not be voting in that race.
“I think it is very important to figure out what our individual priorities are … and you look for those things that mean the most to you, and try to find a leader that aligns with your values as closely as possible and then you support that person,” she added.
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Savage has so far not appeared on the podcast, though Fishel said in a2022 interviewwithEntertainment Tonightthat the door is always open for him.
“If Ben wants to come on, we have an open-door policy,” Fishel told the outlet. “Ben said, listen I just don’t think it’s my thing. I think I wanna focus on other aspects of my career. We said, ‘Totally understand. If you ever change your mind, let us know and come on.'”
In 2022, Savage also ran for a seat on the West Hollywood City Council, earning just over 6% of the vote and placing seventh in a pack of 12 candidates.
While it was his first foray into electoral politics, Savage has been interested in politics since he was younger, even interning for Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania while he was a student at Stanford University in 2003, according to aRolling Stoneinterview that coincided with the 2014 premiere of the Disney Channel spinoffGirl Meets World.
source: people.com
