A theater in Beverly, Massachusetts, is apologizing to patrons who attended a screening of “Jaws” over the weekend, after star Richard Dreyfuss allegedly made comments many patrons considered to be sexist and homophobic.
The Cabot Theater hosted “An Evening With Richard Dreyfuss + Jaws Screening,” where attendees were likely fans of the Steven Spielberg classic, hoping for anecdotes about the film.
However, Dreyfuss, 76, reportedly went on a rogue rant that ranged from talking about Barbra Streisand, to his opinions on transgender youth and gender affirmation, as well as the Academy Awards’ inclusivity rules.
Attendees took to social media to express their disappointment.
“We walked out of his interview tonight along with hundred of others because of his racist homophobic mysogynistic rant,” one person commented on The Cabot’s recent Facebook post.
“Richard Dreyfuss is an embarrassment to society. I walked out tonight because of his small minded bigoted view of women and choice,” another wrote.
One commenter shared that the audience thought the event would be “a light, fun evening listening to stories and anecdotes about RD’s time on the Vineyard making Jaws.”
They wrote, “This was disgusting. How could the Cabot not have vetted his act better. Apparently (I found out too late), he has a reputation for spewing this kind of racist, homophobic, misogynistic bullcrap…We did NOT get what we paid for.”
The venue sent out an apology email to attendees and expressed their regret in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
“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,” a representative wrote.
“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.”
The Post has reached out to representatives for Dreyfuss for comment.
