Richard Dreyfuss has left fans speechless after allegedly going on a sexist, homophobic, and transphobic rant.
The actor, best known for his stint in Jaws, appeared at the Cabot Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts over the weekend at an event that was hailed as "An Evening With Richard Dreyfuss + Jaws Screening."
While you may assume fans were treated to a light-hearted evening filled with amusing stories from his time as an actor, instead, they allegedly had no choice but to endure a few hours of venting, covering a wide range of topics.
According to social media posts that were published on Saturday evening, the 76-year-old went on a "racist, sexist and homophobic rant", which reportedly resulted in a handful of people walking out.
One person wrote in the comment section of the venue’s latest Facebook post, stating: "We walked out of his interview tonight along with hundred of others because of his racist homophobic mysogynistic [sic] rant."
Another person called Dreyfuss’ comments “disgusting” and “offensive.”
A video that was posted to YouTube shows the star talking about 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 Wish Them to Know - which was published back in 2022 - saying: “It’s about the fact that 50 years ago, without telling anybody, they took civics out of the curriculum of all public schools in America, which means we have no knowledge of who the hell we are.
Have a look at the clip below:He continued: "And if we don’t get it back soon, we’re all going to die. Make sure your kids are not the last generation of Americans. And you know exactly what I’m talking about."
After the news started circulating, the venue released a statement, apologizing to the attendees, as per 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 statement read. "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 statement continued: "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."
The company also added 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.”
So far, Dreyfuss has not yet addressed the controversy.