“Jaws” star Richard Dreyfuss reportedly angered some fans with political comments he made at an event celebrating Steven Spielberg's classic film over the weekend.
The Oscar-winning actor was interviewed onstage at the Cabot Theater in Massachusetts before a screening of the classic shark thriller “Jaws,” where he was discussing the film and his acting career, but part of the audience walked out before the film began after the actor spoke out about gender stereotypes.
“He said it was bad parenting for parents of transgender youth to acknowledge their gender transition, and that one day the kids might change their minds,” attendee Diane Wolf told the Boston Globe.
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Richard Dreyfuss made some controversial comments at a recent screening of “Jaws,” reportedly angering some audience members. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Turner)
According to the Globe, at one point Dreyfus said, “That's not okay because when you're 15 you're going to say, 'I'm an octopus,'” and the crowd then yelled at Dreyfus.
“I'm queer and non-binary, and this is personal to me,” said attendee Sarah Hogg. “It was like an out-of-body experience. It was terrifying.”
The actor also reportedly caused a stir with his derogatory comments about Barbra Streisand and the #MeToo movement.
In a video posted to YouTube, the actor can be seen appearing on stage wearing a dress over her clothes and dancing to Taylor Swift songs. Commenters claiming to be attendees described what happened next.
People allegedly in attendance explained what happened next in the video's comments section.
“I was there — he said he didn't like working with Barbra. [Streisand] “She berated him for not being submissive enough to him as a woman,” then went on to say how he doesn't support MeToo or LGBT and that 10-year-olds shouldn't have surgery. He then attacked the crowd, naming his 'famous Republican friends,'” one person wrote. “It just felt really weird and out of place. About 20-30 people walked out, not 'hundreds' as some reports say.”
Another person said the actress made “sly, sexist remarks” about Streisand being difficult to work with because she's “a woman who is supposed to be submissive.”
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Richard Dreyfuss has criticized Hollywood's DEI standards in interviews over the past few years. (Youtube/TheRubinReport)
The crowd responded negatively to these remarks, commenters wrote. Dreyfuss also upset the crowd by saying the #MeToo movement is made up of “people who make me nauseous.”
According to the spectator, the actor continued to make negative comments about the transgender movement, which led some in the audience to boo and heckle him.
“About a third of the theatre got up and turned left and someone near me in the balcony shouted 'See you later, grandpa!' and a woman in the back left of the balcony was heckling Richard quite loudly every time he made a rude and sexist comment (I think she was eventually removed after his anti-LGBT+ speech). The interviewer brought it back on track but it completely ruined the night,” the comment read.
However, not everyone at the event was angry with the actor.
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On the Cabot Theatre's Facebook page, one audience member claimed that the people who left the venue were actually the ones who were intolerant.
“I was in the last row of the top balcony and I think about 20-25 people left their seats. It's sad that people can become so emotional and hypocritical that they can't even be in the same room as people they disagree with,” Kyle Fisk wrote. “Ironically, that's the very theme of Dreyfuss's book – that people need to be tolerant and engaged with those with different political views, because that's a basic requirement of our democratic system. But this is the land of witch trials. I counted myself lucky to have left the theater without being stoned!”
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A person holds a transgender pride flag during the Pride March in New York on Sunday, June 25, 2023. (Bing Guang/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The theater later apologized to audience members who were upset by the actor's comments.
“The views expressed by Mr. Dreyfuss do not reflect the values of inclusivity and respect that we uphold as an organization, and we deeply regret the offense caused to many of our guests. We regret that what was meant to be a conversation celebrating an iconic film became a platform for expressing political views. We take full responsibility for our failure to anticipate the direction the conversation was taking and the offense caused to many of our guests,” Cabot executive director J. Casey Sowards said in a statement.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Dreyfuss for comment.
Kristin Parks is deputy editor for Fox News Digital. Learn more here.