Kevin Smith’s 1999 comedy Dogma was controversial before anyone got a chance to see it on the big screen. The film, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, tells the story of two fallen angels who devise a plan to return to Heaven by exploiting a loophole in Catholic dogma. Though Smith has always insisted that the movie was made with reverent intent, not everyone interpreted it that way. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, for example, denounced Dogma as “blasphemy” after getting their hands on an early draft of the script.

At the time, Dogma was a Miramax film, which meant it was owned by Disney—until the Catholic League got the company’s attention, that is. When one Disney executive took a look at the final cut, he called it one of the most subversive movies he’d ever seen, and said that he’d be afraid to have his name attached to it. Miramax eventually got cold feet and sold Dogma to Lions Gate in order to shield Disney from the Catholic League’s wrath. Yet and still, the movie inspired protests and even a few death threats. 

Kevin Smith Pretended to Protest ‘DOGMA’ and Got Interviewed BY A Local News REPORTER

One such protest took place in Eatontown, New Jersey in November 1999. Smith heard that upwards of 1,500 people were supposed to attend and immediately wanted to join them, seeing as how the theater they were protesting outside of wasn’t far from where he grew up. When Smith arrived, he discovered that only a couple of dozen people had actually shown up. However, the News 12 New Jersey crew was also on the scene, and, thankfully for those of us who weren’t there that night, they were able to catch Smith in action.

In the footage News 12 captured that evening, Smith can be seen standing among the protesters while holding a sign. “I don’t think it stands for anything positive,” Smith said of his own film, not acknowledging to the reporter who was interviewing him that he was the person responsible for its existence. When asked what he thought it stood for, Smith responded by saying, “I don’t know, but I’ve been told, ‘Not good.’” You can check out the full news segment for yourself below.