Busy Philipps calls out Dawsons Creek for ‘insanely inappropriate’ affair plot

Times have changed. 

During a recent interview with People, “Dawson’s Creek” star Busy Philipps reflected on an “insanely inappropriate” plot line. 

She was talking about Pacey (Joshua Jackson), a teen boy who has a tryst with a 36-year-old teacher, Tamara Jacobs (Leann Hunley). 

“He’s going to have a really insanely inappropriate relationship with a teacher, which by the way, is so wild,” Philipps, 46, told the outlet. 

She added, “just goes to show you culturally how much we have changed for the better, right?”

Created by Kevin Williamson, “Dawson’s Creek” ran for six seasons on The WB (now The CW). Set in a fictional small town, the show followed teens coming of age. In addition to Phillipps and Jackson, 47, the show also starred Katie Holmes, 46, Michelle Williams, 45, and James Van Der Beek, 48. 

In a 2021 interview with Business Insider, Jackson weighed in on that story.

The “Fringe” star said, “I think it is real for a younger person to have sexual desires for an older person.” 

But, he added, “I think the onus remains upon the older person to be the adult and recognize that that’s inappropriate.” 

“The Mighty Ducks actor continued, “It’s been many years since I’ve been a teenager, but it strikes there’s a lot more sex positivity in the conversation for young people now, which I think is great. 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.” 

He didn’t say that “Dawson’s Creek” shouldn’t have done that story, however. 

“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.” 

On Sept. 22, the “Dawson’s Creek” cast reunited at the Richard Rodgers Theatre for a charity event on Sept. 22 for a partnership with F Cancer.

Van Der Beek, who has been battling Stage 3 colorectal cancer since last year, had to miss the event due to an 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,” Van Der Beek wrote on his 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.”’

After the reunion, Philipps teared up on Instagram and said that it was “heartbreaking for a million different reasons” for her former co-star to miss the event.

She added, “But I was so glad that Kimberly [Van Der Beek] and all the kids [were there],” referring to Van Der Beek’s wife and their six children (Olivia, 14, Joshua, 12, Annabel, 10, Emilia, 8, Gwendolyn, 6, and Jeremiah, 3).

The “Freaks and Geeks” star said, “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.”

In an interview with The Post in June, Williamson addressed whether “Dawson’s Creek” might ever have a revival. 

“Not in television form. I think there’s other ways that [a ‘Dawson’s Creek’ revival] can come to fruition,” Williamson, 60, exclusively told The Post.

 “But I’m not so sure… I feel complete. I feel like we told the story.”

The “Scream” screenwriter noted that at the end of the teen drama, “we even flash forward five years at the end to show where all the characters ended up, and how they were doing.”

He added, “I feel that’s a box, and it’s exactly where it should be.” 

Williamson recalled, “We were making this little bitty show for this little-bitty network, and we had no idea that it would explode the way it did. That cast was terrific. It’s hard to stumble upon a cast like that.” 

The creator continued, “If someone else comes along with a great idea and can just freshen it up and do something new to it… I mean, I’ll be the first one there to watch it. But I don’t think that probably it will be me.”