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Actor Richard Dreyfuss took the stage at a Jaws screening in Massachusetts, and the event went off the rails rather quickly. It was so bad that the venue had to apologize.
Dreyfuss, who starred in Jaws as Matt Hooper, came out on stage with a cane and dress. Deadline reports that attendees at The Cabot noted that he was being homophobic, transphobic, and sexist during his time in the limelight.
This all happened on Saturday night, on what was supposed to be an exciting evening for fans of Jaws and the actor. Before the classic Steven Spielberg movie was screened, there was a Q&A. And that's when things become unhinged.
Richard Dreyfuss's wild rant at Jaws screening
The actor came out on the stage and oddly wielded his cane like a baseball bat. According to social media accounts from people there, he started talking about his Nuts director, Barbara Streisand. First, he called her a “genius,” but women “are so passive that's why the movie sucked.”
It was then that he started laying into the MeToo Movement and also discussing how you shouldn't be listening to some 10-year-old who says they want to be a boy instead of a girl.
One commenter on Cabot's Facebook page said, “I am absolutely horrified to learn about Dreyfuss's disgusting behavior tonight. His transphobic, homophobic, misogynistic rhetoric should have been shut down.”
Someone else stated, “Yo that was bonkers! I was wondering why someone of his caliber, and age, would bother with a tour of small theaters. I believe I see the agenda now.”
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“Crowd was shouting at him and most walked out before the movie even started,” another comment says. “Talk about the movie asshole.”
A statement of apology from the Cabot to attendees wrote, “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 many of our patrons.”
It continued, “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 many patrons. 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.”
This isn't the first time Dreyfuss has caused an uproar. In fact, a Friday night screening of Jaws at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he apparently made anti-gay remarks, according to a commenter. Also, on PBS's Firing Line, the actor stated that the diversity efforts of The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences “make me vomit.”
We could be wrong, but we're guessing Richard Dreyfuss won't be invited back to The Cabot anytime soon. It seems the actor's behavior was more scary to the audience than a killer shark.
