Actor Busy Philipps has weighed in on one of the most debated plotlines from "Dawson's Creek," calling a storyline involving a teacher-student relationship "insanely inappropriate."
Speaking with People, Philipps, 46, reflected on the show's early episodes, in which Pacey Witter, played by Joshua Jackson, has a sexual relationship with his 36-year-old teacher, Tamara Jacobs, portrayed by Leann Hunley.
"He's going to have a really insanely inappropriate relationship with a teacher, which by the way, is so wild," Philipps said.
"Just goes to show you culturally how much we have changed for the better, right?"
The teen drama, created by Kevin Williamson, aired for six seasons on The WB, following the lives of a group of high school friends in the fictional town of Capeside.
The series starred Philipps, Jackson, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, and James Van Der Beek.
In a 2021 interview with Business Insider, Jackson looked back on the storyline, saying views on such topics have changed over time.
"I think it is real for a younger person to have sexual desires for an older person," he said.
"But I think the onus remains upon the older person to be the adult and recognize that that's inappropriate."
Jackson noted that discussions around youth and sexuality have become more open in recent years.
"It's been many years since I've been a teenager, but it strikes [me that] there's a lot more sex positivity in the conversation for young people now, which I think is great," he said.
"I think we've moved forward significantly and in a healthy way, but we still treat teenage female sexuality very differently than we teach or treat male teenage sexuality."
The actor said he did not believe the show necessarily mishandled the storyline.
"Do I think that the show should have judged it differently? Maybe ... I think it's necessary to show storylines that have humans making mistakes. I don't think we presented it as a beautiful or romantic thing," he said.
The "Dawson's Creek" cast reunited on Sept. 22 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre for a charity event benefiting F Cancer.
Van Der Beek, 48, who is undergoing treatment for Stage 3 colorectal cancer, was unable to attend due to illness.
"This is the evening I'd been looking forward to MOST since my angel Michelle Williams said she was putting it together, way back in January," he wrote on Instagram.
"So you can imagine how gutted I was when two stomach viruses conspired to knock me out of commission and keep me grounded at the worst possible moment."
Philipps later shared an emotional message about his absence, saying it was "heartbreaking for a million different reasons" that Van Der Beek could not be there. "But I was so glad that Kimberly [Van Der Beek] and all the kids [were there]," she said, according to Page Six.
"It was just really beautiful. And James is getting lots of videos and FaceTimes and texts and things, and we just love him so much."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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