Hollywood star Richard Dreyfuss is being accused of making sexist and homophobic comments while attending a screening of Jaws at a theater in Massachusetts on Saturday.
Dreyfuss was part of an event at the Cabot theater in Beverley, Massachusetts, billed as “An Evening With Richard Dreyfuss + Jaws Screening,” when he was asked to make a few remarks ahead of the showing, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Some attendees, though, were irked when the film’s star reportedly began pontificating about inclusivity rules at the Academy Awards, offered criticism of transgenderism, and took some shots at left-wing actress and singer Barbara Streisand.
Some fans vented their frustration on social media after the film, with one carping, “An Evening of Misogyny and Homophobia With Richard Dreyfuss. Disappointing doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
So here’s part 2 and mind you this was billed to talk about his movies, specifically Jaws which was played following his interview.
— Bigfoot Mountain (@sasysquatchgirl) May 26, 2024
Okay, so I’m going to use this Facebook comment about last night that summed up the evening…
“An Evening of Misogyny and Homophobia With Richard… pic.twitter.com/Io5F2oPXDp
Another who claimed she was at the event said she “walked out… because of his racist homophobic mysogynistic [sic] rant.”
The theater rushed to apologize for the actor’s rant, saying in a statement, “We are aware of, and share serious concerns,” and added, “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.”
The theater also claimed that they 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.”
The actor’s comments can’t come as a huge surprise. He has been railing against left-wing censorship for years.
In May of last year, for instance, he told Firing Line that the Academy’s “inclusion rules” make him want to “vomit.”
“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. What are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings? You can’t legislate that. 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 has to be catered to like that. … 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.”
In 2019, Dreyfuss slammed those who lack pride in America’s founding, and he praised the Constitution while expressing his concern Jews were turning their back on Judaism.
As far back as 2006 he launched The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative to promote civics education from the fourth grade, and has called the failure to teach the U.S. Constitution, “suicidal.”
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