Summary
-
Jaws
star Richard Dreyfuss reportedly made homophobic and sexist remarks during recent event, critiquing trans youth and Barbra Streisand. - Attendees expressed disappointment, with one saying the evening should be called “An Evening of Misogyny and Homophobia.”
- The Cabot Theater has since apologized for Dreyfuss’ comments.
Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind star Richard Dreyfuss caused controversy once again with comments he made during a recent appearance at The Cabot Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts. During the event, which saw Dreyfuss reflect on the making of Jaws following a special screening of the iconic Steven Spielberg movie, the actor reportedly made homophobic and sexist remarks regarding trans people, Barbra Streisand, and the MeToo movement.
A video shared to YouTube by user Paulieflix shows Dreyfuss walking onto the stage wearing a dress, with the actor then criticizing parents who allow their children to transition. Attendee Diane Wolfe revealed details of what Dreyfuss said (via Variety).
“[Dreyfuss] said that the parents of trans youth, allowing them to transition, was bad parenting and that someday those kids might change their minds.”
More attendees took to social media to react to his appearance at the event, with one saying, “Came here to see if #RichardDreyfuss had been cancelled tonight after appearing at #TheCabot in Beverly.. Another adds that the event should have been called, “An Evening of Misogyny and Homophobia With Richard Dreyfuss. Disappointing doesn’t even begin to cover it. “
The venue has now issued a statement apologizing for Dreyfuss’ remarks, with The Cabot executive director J. Casey Soward saying that they should have anticipated the sort of things that the actor might say when on stage.
“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.”
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As well as apologizing via a statement, The Cabot has also issued an email to those who bought tickets for the event. You can read the email in its entirety below.
“Dear Cabot Patrons,
I am writing to address an important matter concerning last night’s event with Richard Dreyfuss at The Cabot.
We deeply regret that Mr. Dreyfuss’s comments during the event were not in line with the values of inclusivity and respect that we uphold at The Cabot. We understand that his remarks were distressing 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. The views expressed by Mr. Dreyfuss do not reflect our beliefs, and we do not endorse them in any way.
We take full responsibility for the oversight in not anticipating the direction of the conversation and for any discomfort it caused.
We are taking immediate steps to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. This includes more rigorous vetting of our event participants and more proactive communication strategies to keep our audience informed.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support of The Cabot.
We value your feedback and are dedicated to learning from this experience to better serve our community.”
This is far from the first time that Dreyfuss has caused controversy, with the actor saying last year that new “inclusion” rules for the Oscars make him want to “vomit.” More recently, the actor reportedly made similar sexist remarks while attending a Q&A event at The Cabot in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
