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Two Decades Later, ‘Dawson's Creek' Actor Reflects on Historic Gay Kiss

In the show’s 1998 season 3 finale, two actors shared what is considered TV’s first “passionate” kiss between two men

Retrospective looks at “Dawson’s Creek” often focus on how the titular character Dawson Leery can be considered "annoying" and a "wannabe filmmaker" who treated women as collateral to actualize his vision of himself as a tortured artist. But besides introducing viewers to an arguably excruciating main character, the WB show also gave viewers one of the most iconic moments in television history back in 1998: primetime TV’s first “passionate” gay kiss.

More than 20 years later, Kerr Smith, who played Jack McPhee on the teen drama, reflected on the impact of that kiss in an interview with Too Fab.

"We were the first ones to do that,” Smith told the entertainment blog. “It was a crazy experience back then.”

During the show’s season 3 finale, titled “True Love,” Jack confessed his true feelings for Ethan (Adam Kaufman) with a kiss, NBC News reports. The storyline ends in heartbreak — Ethan has got back together with his ex-boyfriend and doesn’t reciprocate Jack’s feelings — but history was made nonetheless.

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