What the hell happened with Richard Dreyfuss at that Jaws screening?
Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss reportedly went on a sexist, transphobic rant at a Massachusetts Jaws event
Over the weekend, an email from The Cabot theater in Beverly, Massachusetts started circulating on social media. It was an apologetic follow-up to an event titled “An Evening with Richard Dreyfuss + Jaws Screening,” wherein the theater stressed that “The views expressed by Mr. Dreyfuss do not reflect the values of inclusivity and respect that we uphold as an organization.” Reading about how what “was meant to be a conversation to celebrate an iconic movie instead became a platform for political views,” many wondered: what the hell did Richard Dreyfuss say to prompt such an apology?
There’s still no full transcript of the event, but some scant videos and reports from attendees have filled in some of the blanks. The bizarre evening began with the Oscar winner coming out on stage doing a half-assed routine to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” while wearing a dress (a pair of stagehands helped him take it off, and he put on a suit jacket before sitting down). Once the actual talk began, he made remarks about women being submissive and weak that were so outrageous some attendees actually thought he was satirizing old-school Hollywood misogyny, according to The Boston Globe.
Instead, it seems Dreyfuss’s remarks were just actual old-school Hollywood misogyny. One social media post claims that the actor called his Nuts producer Barbra Streisand a “genius” but one he wouldn’t listen to because she’s “a woman, and woman shouldn’t have that power.” He reportedly complained about the #MeToo movement and “said that the parents of trans youth, allowing them to transition, was bad parenting and that someday those kids might change their minds,” another attendee told the Globe. Additional video of Dreyfuss’s disparaging remarks about trans kids included his opinion that “It’s not okay because when the kid’s 15, she’s going to say, ‘I’m an octopus’” (per the Globe). According to one comment on The Cabot’s Facebook page (via Deadline), “Crowd was shouting at him and most walked out before the movie even started.” The commenter added: “Talk about the movie asshole.”
These remarks are apparently in line with Dreyfuss’ late-stage career (one commenter shared that he “made anti-gay remarks” at a similar event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire days earlier, per Deadline). Last year on PBS’ Firing Line he professed that new inclusivity rules for the Academy Awards “make me vomit.” He explained, “[This] is an art form. 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.”