Resurfaced TODAY clip of 'Hocus Pocus 2' star Kathy Najimy goes viral

A resurfaced clip of "Hocus Pocus 2" star Kathy Najimy is going viral, and it hits very close to home.

In the clip from 1993 shared widely on TikTok and Instagram, the then 36-year-old actor was promoting the first "Hocus Pocus" on TODAY.

The interview took an interesting turn when co-anchor Katie Couric asked her, "I understand you had some concerns in all seriousness about taking on this role because you didn’t want to offend or stereotype real witches, is that right?"

Najimy responded, "At the risk of having America roll their eyes, I just feel supportive of all groups, whether they’re women’s groups or gay groups or racial groups, and I know that there are groups of witches out there."

"I mean, I’m not a witch. I don’t know any personally," she added. "But when I read the script, I thought this is really perpetuating a stereotype about an evil ugly witch and I know that there are groups of really strong women who sort of bind together, within are very spiritual and powerful. I didn’t want to be part of perpetuating that myth."

Next, Najimy said what she did to ease her apprehensions. This included engaging in conversations with creatives on the project and "the goddess of the world who knows everything": Gloria Steinem.

"She said that, the interesting thing was that originally some of the women who were said to be witches were healthcare workers and midwives," Najimy explained. "So that’s where the notion of baby eating came because they would perform abortions sometimes."

"So the women would go in pregnant ... and come out not. So, that’s the gossip about baby eating, which is of course not true. These were just health care workers."

A social media user shared the clip on TikTok, calling Najimy “a woman ahead of her time.”

Of course, the actor got over her fears and took part in the now-iconic 1993 film also starring Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker. All three of the women returned for a sequel that just came out on Sept. 30, 2022, becoming Disney+'s biggest debut for a film in the United States.

One Texas mom urged parents not to let their children watch "Hocus Pocus 2" because it will “unleash hell on your kids and in your home.”

Jamie Gooch, a mother of three living in Troy, Texas, shared a post on social media and told local news station KWTX that families should “not watch this film.”

“A worst case scenario is: you unleash hell on your kids and in your home,” Gooch told the station. “The whole movie is based on witches harvesting children for blood sacrifices.”

She added that while “everybody thinks it’s fake and innocent,” the characters in the film “could be casting any type of spell that they want to.”

“Anything could be coming through that TV screen into your home."

CORRECTION (Oct. 18, 2022, 11:01 a.m.): An earlier version of this article misstated the name of Gloria Steinem. Her surname is spelled Steinem, not Steinam.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com