Jaws star Richard Dreyfuss is accused of making misogynistic and homophobic comments at a screening of the 1975 movie over Memorial Day Weekend.
The Cabot theater in Beverly, Massachusetts, hosted a Q&A session with Dreyfuss, 76, before screening the Steven Spielberg classic, on Saturday, May 25. But people in attendance said they walked out because of various remarks made by the Oscar winner.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dreyfuss made offensive comments about Barbra Streisand, the #MeToo movement and transgender youth affirming their gender.
“We walked out of his interview tonight along with hundred of others because of his racist homophobic mysogynistic [sic] rant,” commented one attendee on The Cabot’s Facebook page.
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“Came here to see if #RichardDreyfuss had been cancelled tonight after appearing at #TheCabot in Beverly,” shared another attendee via X following the event.
Video footage posted to YouTube shows the actor taking to the stage wearing a dress over his clothes to the tune of “Love Story” by Taylor Swift. The actor can be seen removing the dress with the help of two other people.
The Cabot issued a statement apologizing to attendees on Monday, May 27, per The Hollywood Reporter.
“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. 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,” the venue said.
“We regret that an event that was meant to be a conversation to celebrate an iconic movie instead became a platform for political views,” the statement continued. “We take full responsibility for the oversight in not anticipating the direction of the conversation and for the discomfort it caused to many patrons.”
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The statement concluded: “We are in active dialogue with our patrons about their experience and are committed to learning from this event how to better enact our mission of entertaining, educating and inspiring our community.”
Dreyfuss — who won the best actor Oscar in 1978 for The Goodbye Girl — made headlines last year when he criticized the Academy Awards’ new diversity and inclusion rules for Best Picture candidates. The rules, which came into effect this year, require movies to meet at least two out of four criteria aimed to increase the representation of people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities, among others, on and off camera.
On a May 2023 episode of PBS’ Firing Line With Margaret Hoover, Dreyfuss said the requirements “make me vomit.”
“This is an art form,” the actor said. “It’s also a form of commerce, and it makes money, but it’s an art. And no one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is.”
Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for Dreyfuss and The Cabot for comment.
