The Flash Star Candice Patton Pays Tribute to Boy Meets World’s Trina McGee

The Flash’s Candice Patton paid tribute to Boy Meets World star Trina McGee. The actress played Angela on the hit sitcom way back in the TGIF era on ABC. She might not have been on the series at the beginning, but as the Matthews kids got older, their universe began to expand. Patton explained that seeing McGee’s character be a love interest for Shawn on the show really imprinted on her. Boy Meets World was huge at the time, and seeing a Black actress get that role really changed how The CW star thought about herself. TV Guide had asked Patton for who made her feel seen on television, and it’s clear this was a big choice for her. The Iris West actress is probably doing a bit of the same for some young girls out there right now with her work on the Arrowverse. Check out her entire explanation down below:

“Hey guys! Candice Patton here. You know, when I think back on my youth and the shows that I watched,” she began. “I remember this block of television called TGIF on Friday nights on ABC. One of my favorite shows was Boy Meets World. Everyone loved Cory and Topanga, and all the characters. Several seasons in, they introduced another character by the name of Angela as a romantic love interest for Shawn. Shawn finds this backpack and it’s filled with all of these items that he loves. And, he wants to return this backpack and find the woman that owns all of these items.”

“When he does, you see that it’s this African-American woman named Angela, played by Trina McGee. I just remember as a young person, a young Black woman. You know, it really struck me,” she continued. “I hadn’t seen a lot of young African-American women be love interests. Especially on such a young, hip, popular show like Boy Meets World. And so, there was a part of me that felt beautiful and desirable, just like Angela. It will never leave me, it was such a poignant moment for me, watching television at that age in my life. And so, it’s one that will stick with me for a very long time.”

Patton talked about running along with The Flash and the immediate shock of that fan response to Iris West being Black in 2018. She told POPSUGAR’s Play/Ground festival about how vocal the fanbase was.

“For me, Iris West was traditionally white in the comic books. So, you know, comic book fans are very opinionated, very vocal. So it was very scary stepping into that role when I started the show,” Patton mused. “And I remember our executive producer at this time, once I got cast, he was like ‘Don’t go online. Just don’t go on.’ But what’s great is, I think over time, people have embraced me and have embraced this character and I think it’s really important. And I think what’s great is, you know, years to come, people will remember Iris West as being African-American. And that’s a really, really cool thing.”

Did you love Boy Meets World back in the 90s? Let us know down in the comments!