‘Now You Wanna Be Friends With Me?’: Boy Meets World Alum Recalls NSYNC’s Set Visits And Later Learning That Justin Timberlake ‘Didn’t Like’ Him© ABC

Classic ’90s sitcom Boy Meets World may have ended nearly a quarter century ago, but the stars are keeping the legacy alive by regularly getting together to talk about the beloved show. Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel, and Will Friedle recently reunited with Matthew Lawrence to reminisce about days gone by, leading Lawrence to reveal how he made a bad impression on Justin Timberlake when NSYNC would visit the Boy Meets World set.

Matthew Lawrence played Jack across the last three seasons of Boy Meets World from 1997-2000, which was also around the height of the boy band rivalry between NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. On the Pod Meets World podcast hosted by Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel, and Will Friedle, Lawrence opened up about an exchange he had with Justin Timberlake about their encounters on the set of Boy Meets World:

I don’t know if you guys — well, of course, you remember this — but when NSYNC kept coming over to the set? … I found out years later when I bumped into Justin [Timberlake] that he thought I was not very nice. He didn’t like me, and he flat out told me to my face. … I didn’t have any recollection of this, and he was like, ‘Oh, yeah. Yeah, now you wanna be friends with me? You were so mean on the set!’

Lawrence explained that he was a huge fan of the singer when he spoke with Timberlake at the time that his debut solo album Justified released in 2002, which was only a couple of years after Boy Meets World ended with its seventh season. (You can revisit the full series streaming now with a Disney+ subscription.)

The actor’s former co-stars all seemed pretty shocked to hear what Timberlake had said to him, but it’s safe to say that they got to know him a whole lot better working together than Justin Timberlake did during the NSYNC set visits. Lawrence went on:

I was super shy, and also, I had kind of a crush on Danielle. And these guys kept rolling up on set, like, trying to hit on her!

Danielle Fishel may have gone through her fair share of struggles on set during Boy Meets World‘s earliest days –including very harsh criticisms from the showrunner right after she landed her role – but plenty of young fans watched the show and were crushing hard on Topanga. That apparently included Matthew Lawrence and some of the members of NSYNC!