A participant at Richard Dreyfuss disastrous Q&A in Massachusetts Over Memorial Day weekend, the Oscar winner told Daily Mail.Com that he “continued” to make homophobic and racist comments during his performance.
Dreyfuss, 76, appeared at the $300-a-head screening of Jaws, the blockbuster that launched his legendary career in 1975 at The Cabot, a theater in Beverley, Massachusetts.
The famous actor took his opportunity to speak out against the MeToo movement. transgender children, the legendary Barbra Streisand after he took the stage wear a dress.
A member of the public, Kerry, told MailOnline she was at The Cabot with her sister as the tickets were a birthday present.
'He started the evening with a dress that he danced in Taylor Swift say this was so LGBTQ moment. I assumed he was rummaging around, later an employee told me he walked around town for a few hours trying to pick one out,” she said.
Richard Dreyfuss was seen on video entering a screening and Q&A for his classic 1975 film Jaws wearing a dress before being booed and facing audience walkouts in Massachusetts
Kerry said the show then got back on track when Dreyfuss discussed his role in another Steven Spielberg classic, 1978's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
From then on, however, Kerry said Dreyfuss took off, targeting his Nuts co-star Barbra Streisand. 'He started saying a lot of sexist things about her, about all women. They're stupid, they shouldn't have any power, etc.,” she continued.
Other stories say Dreyfuss accused women of being “passive,” which is why the 1987 film Nuts was “bad.”
“Then he went on and on with homophobic and racist comments… He insulted the Me Too movement, etc.”
Another member of the crowd said Dreyfuss said society “shouldn't listen to a 10-year-old who says he wants to be a boy instead of a girl.”
Kerry said the atmosphere in the theater quickly soured as many booed the star and some walked out. “Don't turn into an angry mob now,” Dreyfuss told the crowd, according to Kerry.
Kerry claimed that an employee at The Cabot told her that the staff had been told to prepare for Dreyfuss' bizarre behavior, as a similar incident occurred the night before at a similar event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Dreyfuss, 78, appeared at The Cabot in Beverly, Massachusetts, for a question-and-answer session followed by a screening of Jaws, the megahit that launched his career in 1975.
Dreyfuss eventually put on a suit jacket and ditched the dress, but he continued to offend many in the audience
A participant on that show was quoted by Deadline as saying, “I ran away tonight because of [Dreyfuss’s] petty, bigoted view of women and freedom of choice.”
At one point during his Cabot show, Dreyfuss said, “We are so vulnerable that our feelings cannot be hurt. We don't know how to stand up and punch the bully in the face.”
“There's a time and place for that kind of thing, most likely a Republican rally, but not at a Jaws event.”
“He's rich, entitled, he didn't care about anyone but himself last night… it was never an argument, he was ignorant and inappropriate. I expected better.'
“Someone should ask Steven Spielberg what he thinks about Dreyfuss saying these things at a screening of his movie,” Kerry added.
The participant went on to say that she felt like Dreyfuss was doing something for a book. 'I felt like he was conducting a twisted social experiment to prove some of the points in his book. That we cannot civilly disagree on issues etc. that is my opinion,” Kerry said.
In 2022, Dreyfuss published his book One Thought Scares Me…: We Teach Our Children What We Wish Them to Know; We Don't Teach Our Children What We Don't Want Them to Know, which addressed the topic of civics in American schools.
The actor is passionate about the cause of citizenship education.
In 2008, he founded The Dreyfuss Initiative, a nonprofit organization that promotes education about American democracy in classrooms across the country. The initiative offers teachers videos and learning resources, among other things.
According to some audience members, Dreyfuss made disparaging comments about Barbra Streisand, his co-star in the 1987 film Nuts.
Dreyfuss pictured alongside his late Jaws co-stars Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw
Dreyfuss pictured with his wife, Russian-born Svetlana Erokhin in April 2023
In a 2014 interview with The Associated Press, Dreyfuss called for a “citizens' strike” in support of the U.S. Constitution to encourage citizen participation.
Dreyfuss took the opportunity to plug his book at the end of his performance in Cabot.
“Fifty years ago, without telling anyone, they took social studies out of the curriculum in public schools in America. “We don't know who the hell we are and if we don't get it back soon, we're all going to die,” he said.
“We need to make sure that your children are not the last generation of Americans, and that you know exactly what I'm talking about.”
Meanwhile, Dreyfuss' son, Ben Dreyfuss, a left-wing activist, tweeted a joke in response to his father's antics.
“Re: My dad, well, now you know why I refused to give him the password to his own Twitter account for ten years lol.”
“This will be my only statement on this matter.”
In an earlier tweet, Ben referred to the “disgusting outrageous behavior of one of [his] family members.'
It was previously reported that Dreyfuss entered the stage in a floral print dress, shook his hips and waved his cane like a baseball bat.
Cabot Cinema management issued a full apology to patrons who attended Dreyfuss' performance
After the event, the theater apologized to everyone who purchased tickets.
“We deeply regret that Mr. Dreyfuss' comments during the event were not consistent with the values of inclusivity we uphold at The Cabot,” the press release began.
We understand that his comments were disturbing and offensive to many of our community members, and for that we sincerely apologize.”
“At The Cabot, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members of our community. Mr. Dreyfuss's views do not reflect our beliefs, and we do not endorse them in any way.”
“We take full responsibility for the failure to anticipate the direction of the conversation and any discomfort this may cause.”
In response to the controversy, one attendee, Rogue Mama, tweeted, “Came here to see if Richard Dreyfuss was canceled tonight after appearing on #TheCabot in Beverly.”
Another person tweeted an alternative title for the evening: “An evening of misogyny and homophobia with Richard Dreyfuss. Disappointing doesn't even begin to cover it.'
Ironically, on May 28, three days after Dreyfuss' performance, the theater will host an event titled How Discrimination Is Emerging in Our Community and What We Can Do About It.
Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss slammed the Oscars' diversity and inclusion requirements, saying 'they make me throw up' in 2023
Just twelve months ago, Dreyfuss was widely criticized for his comments about the new diversity and inclusion requirements at the Academy Awards, saying, “They make me throw up.”
Dreyfuss made the comments during an episode of PBS' Firing Line, which aired Friday, claiming the Academy was treating people like children by implementing the new criteria.
The actor also defended Laurence Olivier's performance in the 1965 film Othello, in which he played the main character in blackface.
Host Margaret Hoover asked Dreyfuss what he thought of the upcoming inclusivity rules and he replied, “They make me throw up.”
'No one should tell me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is. What do we risk? Are we really at risk of hurting people's feelings?
'You cannot lay that down in law. You have to let life be life and I'm sorry, I don't think there is a minority or majority in the country that needs to be taken care of like this… This is an art form. It is also a form of trade and it makes money, but it is an art.
“And no one should tell me as an artist that I have to give in to the newest, most current idea of what morality is.”