Richard Dreyfuss Slammed for Sexist, Homophobic Remarks at ‘Jaws’ Screening

Richard Dreyfuss has come under fire for a number of sexist, homophobic, and transphobic comments he allegedly made during a screening of Jaws at The Cabot theater in Massachusetts on Saturday, May 25. Many patrons were said to have walked out before the film even started and the theater has since apologized.

In video footage that has since surfaced from the event, the 76-year-old could be seen walking out onstage to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” wearing a floral dress, shaking his hips, and then swinging his cane like a baseball bat. In various reports from audience members that have come to light on social media, Dreyfuss then proceeded to go off on several rants unrelated to the movie.

According to one social media user who said her girlfriend’s parents were in attendance, Dreyfuss “went off the rails” talking about Barbra Streisand, who produced and starred in his 1987 legal drama Nuts, calling her a “genius” but because she’s a woman, “women shouldn’t have that power.” He also was said to have claimed that the movie “sucked” because “women are so passive.”

Dreyfuss also reportedly shared his unpopular opinions on the #MeToo movement and that we “shouldn’t be listening to some 10-year-old who wants to be a boy instead of a girl.”

“We walked out of his interview tonight along with hundred of others because of his racist homophobic misogynistic rant,” another audience member wrote on the Cabot’s Facebook page.

However, while dozens were said to have walked out, many others did stay through to the end of the actor’s appearance, and even cheering him on as he plugged his 2022 book, One Thought Scares Me.

“It’s about the fact that 50 years ago without telling anybody they took civics out of the curriculum at public schools in America,” Dreyfuss said, in another video that surfaced. “We have no knowledge of who the hell we are and if we don’t get it back soon we’re all gonna die. We have to make sure that your kids are not the last generation of Americans, and you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

It’s unclear what any of that has to do with Jaws, but The Cabot has since issued an apology to patrons.

“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 statement said, according to Deadline. “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,” 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.”

The theater added that it was in “active dialogue” with 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.”

But while certainly disappointing, Dreyfuss apparently has a history of making similar remarks. During an appearance last year on the PBS talk show, Firing Line, he slammed The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its recent diversity efforts, saying it made him “vomit.”

“We’re so fragile that we can’t have our feelings hurt,” he said at the time. “We don’t know how to stand up and bop the bully in the face.”

And according to another Facebook commenter who attended the Jaws screening in nearby Portsmouth, New Hampshire on May 24, Dreyfuss made similar remarks. “I live in Mass, but the Cabot showing was all booked so I saw him in NH on May 24,” the commenter wrote. “He made anti-gay remarks that night too.”