Kerr Smith recalls homophobic backlash over Dawson’s Creek role

Actor Kerr Smith says he faced protests and homophobic hostility while playing Jack McPhee on Dawson’s Creek, and that his car was later vandalized with homophobic graffiti. He recounts the experiences in his memoir, I Don’t Wanna Wait My Life on Dawson’s Creek, released in the United States on November 10, 2026, with a UK release scheduled for November 26.

Smith recalled protesters gathering outside the show’s Wilmington, North Carolina, studio after Jack’s coming-out storyline. He said he heard demonstrators chanting about gay people and describing them as an abomination while he was inside the studio. Although cast and crew supported him, Smith said the protests left him feeling isolated. He also recalled driving past crowds on his way to work.

In the memoir and interviews, Smith describes a separate incident around 2001, while he was filming the movie The Forsaken in Yuma, Arizona. He said he returned to find his car covered in red graffiti, including homophobic slurs. Smith said he never learned who was responsible. He kept the incident to himself for years and said writing about it was the first time he had put the experience into words.

Smith played Jack, whose storyline...