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Richard Dreyfuss has made headlines since some remarks he made at a Jaws screening in Massachusetts on Saturday started to circulate online.
The American Graffiti and Close Encounters of the Third Kind star was fronting a $300 a ticket even billed as “An Evening With Richard Dreyfuss including a Jaws Screening” at the Cabot Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Dreyfuss appeared on stage wearing a dress and dancing to a Taylor Swift song. The dresses was then removed and he put on a blazer before settling down to the evening at hand.
During this event, some of the comments he made during the Q&A were held to be “transphobic”, “Misogynistic”, and “anti-MeToo”. The actual comments themselves are yet to be fully documented, but the reactions are pulled from the social media postings of some attendees.
NBC 10 Boston reported one attendee was disgusted when Dreyfuss delivered:
“…a hate-filled speech that disparaged women in film, the #MeToo movement and LGBTQ rights.”
The actor also spoke about his Nuts producer Barbra Streisand, calling her both a genius and an idiot. Other reports say he shared “bigoted opinions” on transgender kids and their parents. He had previously said the Academy Awards’ efforts to falsely foster diversity “make me want to vomit”.
Others have taken to the Cabot Theater Facebook page to vent, with one user stating:
“He was there to speak about Jaws and his acting career. Nobody needs to hear him spewing filthy hate speech about the LGBTQ+ and transgender communities. He’s more than welcome to his opinions, but hate speech has no place in a public forum.”
Another added:
“I’d be upset if I paid to see an event and thought he was doing a Q and A about a beloved classic film and it turned into a rant about unrelated things – no matter what he was ranting about. Demented and entitled Boomer.”
Other comments included:
“We walked out of his interview tonight along with hundred of others because of his racist homophobic mysogynistic rant.”
One more declared:
“This was disgusting. How could the Cabot not have vetted his act better. Apparently (I found out too late), he has a reputation for spewing this kind of racist, homophobic, misogynistic bullcrap.”
Last Movie Outpost can not confirm reports that they were literally shaking when they typed these comments, or that “they can’t even”.
Others present at the event argued “there was nothing wrong with what he said” and one theatergoer responded online that he had a “newfound respect” for the actor. The Cabot has responded with a statement, apologizing. The venue’s executive director J. Casey Soward said:
“We are aware of, and share serious concerns, following the recent event with Richard Dreyfuss prior to a screening of the film ‘Jaws’ at The Cabot,” said in a statement. “The views expressed by Mr. Dreyfuss do not reflect the values of inclusivity and respect that we uphold as an organization. We deeply regret the distress that this has caused to many of our patrons. We regret that an event that was meant to be a conversation to celebrate an iconic movie instead became a platform for political views. We take full responsibility for the oversight in not anticipating the direction of the conversation and for the discomfort it caused to many patrons.”
The Dreyfuss Initiative was approached for comment by many media outlets but is yet to respond. Dreyfuss has often used his platform to target the state of education and politics in the US. According to the Dreyfuss initiative website he favors:
“…privacy, freedom of speech, democracy, and individual accountability”.
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