Smith has been touring across the country with the film as part of his independent marketing strategy, and as part of that he's been hyping the presence of the Phelps family at the Kansas City stop. Even though Smith and Megan Phelps(Fred's daughter) have been engaging in a heated but hilarious war of words on Twitter, the plan was for her to come up on stage after the movie to giver the family's personal take. Would've been cool...if it had happened.
Instead, the Phelps' skipped out. Skedaddled. Bailed out after only 15 minutes. I'm assuming something offended their delicate sensibilities(*snort*). I mean, it's ok to picket the funeral of a 9 year old girl because she clearly deserved what she got, but Heaven forbid somebody make a movie with a few vulgarities and references to sex. It's downright unseemly! They left a couple of well-placed signs behind, reading "God Hates Fag Enablers" and "Red State Fags". According to these folks, God seriously needs to get laid or something. Chill out.
Of course the entire event was protested outside, and Smith has wasted no time in using this whole thing to help push his movie. I don't blame him. The dude has been totally cool about the whole thing. Not all of the Phelps clan skooted outta Dodge. A couple of them stayed behind and actually did go on stage and talk about their views on the film and their family. It's about seven minutes long and is pretty interesting. Check that out below. Thanks to Slashfilm for the details on this story. I was going to go to the Red State screening here in DC tonight, but can't justify the price tag to hear Smith speak yet again. I'll just wait until it releases theatrically on October 19th.
