Massachusetts Theater Apologizes to Audience After Richard Dreyfuss’s Alleged ‘Homophobic,’ ‘Misogynistic’ Rant
(Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
A Massachusetts theater offered an apology to customers this week after some took to social media and accused actor Richard Dreyfuss of going on a “homophobic” and “misogynistic” rant at a recent screening of Jaws.
The Cabot theater in Beverly, Massachusetts held a screening of Jaws and a Q and A session with Dreyfuss on Saturday and social media posts suggest the actor was more interested in a handful of hotly-debated topics over Jaws, including transgender minors and Barbra Streisand.
According to one video posted to YouTube, Dreyfuss walked onto stage in a dress dancing to a Taylor Swift song. Two stagehands later help him remove the dress.
One commenter at The Cabot’s Facebook page wrote that Dreyfuss went into a “racist homophobic misogynistic rant,” forcing them to walk out of the Jaws screening. Another called his talk “disgusting.”
In another video posted to YouTube, Dreyfuss can be seen spoke about “civics” being taken out of school curriculum.
“It’s about the fact that 50 years ago, without telling anybody, they took civics out of the curriculum of all public schools in America, which means we have no knowledge of who the hell we are,” he said. “And if we don’t get it back soon, we’re all going to die. Make sure your kids are not the last generation of Americans. And you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Critics accused the actor of saying worse though. He was accused of at one point calling Streisand a “genius,” but said he doesn’t listen to her because “women shouldn’t have that much power.”
My girlfriend’s parents were there, here’s what they said lol pic.twitter.com/915i3O6Zb3
— kell-i 🔪 (@kleemcadams) May 26, 2024
Other social media posts suggest that he said people shouldn’t “be listening to some 10-year-old who says they want to be a boy instead of a girl.”
“[Dreyfuss] said that the parents of trans youth, allowing them to transition, was bad parenting and that someday those kids might change their minds,” one attendee said when describing the actor’s comment to The Boston Globe.
The Cabot responded to complaints by apologizing and saying they do not endorse the alleged Dreyfuss comments. The theater did not confirm the remarks.
The Cabot 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 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. 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 has made waves for his political opinions in recent years. The vocal liberal ripped into new Oscar inclusivity rules last year, declaring they make him “want to vomit.”
