People forget about this, but Richard Dreyfuss got hit with some credible accusations of sexual harassment during the Me Too cycle in 2017. Some people canceled him back then, although to be perfectly fair, Dreyfuss has been on a lot of sh-tlists for many years now. It wasn’t about sexual harassment, it was about Dreyfuss being “difficult” and just a sh-tty coworker. Then, last year, Dreyfuss gave a particularly aggrieved interview in which he said tons of really offensive sh-t about woke culture, racism and more. The man lost the plot years ago, if you ask me. Still, he was invited to a special screening of Jaws in Massachusetts over the weekend, and he was asked to do a Q&A session. Dreyfuss was so offensive, people walked out of the Q&A session.
What was supposed to be a fun, intimate event and “Jaws” screening in Beverly with Richard Dreyfuss took a turn this weekend, when the actor went on a “transphobic, misogynistic, homophobic, sexist rant,” according to theatergoers.
Sarah Hogg and their partner, Jonah Hoffmann, were among those at The Cabot theater in Beverly for “An Evening With Richard Dreyfuss + Jaws Screening” on Saturday. It felt like the perfect way to celebrate Hoffmann’s birthday — by watching his favorite film, and even participating in a special meet-and-greet with the actor beforehand, which cost about $300 per ticket.
“We were thrilled to see Richard Dreyfuss speak about his experience filming ‘Jaws,’ what it was like, his time in Hollywood,” Hogg said Monday. “That is not at all the experience that we got.”
According to interviews with attendees and postings about the event on social media, Dreyfuss quickly devolved into a hate-filled speech about women in film, the MeToo movement, and LGBTQ rights. The event left many in the audience feeling rattled after watching a beloved actor spew hateful remarks that prompted many to walk out, while others wished they had.
In a video from the event, Dreyfuss walked onto the stage to a Taylor Swift song while wearing a dress, which was then torn off prior to his talk by a few helpers. At first, Hogg said, Dreyfuss’s misogynistic remarks, in which they recall him saying women were submissive and weak, sounded like they could be ironic, more of a commentary about how Hollywood has traditionally viewed women.
“Then it just got so quickly off the rails,” Hogg said, recalling comments about hating the MeToo and LGBTQ movements. When the remarks turned to transgender kids, Hogg and Hoffman walked out, along with many others.
Yeah, it kept going and it got even worse from there, but I’ll spare everyone. Let’s just say that JK Rowling will send him a Christmas card. Like… my mom loves Dreyfuss as an actor, she’s a huge fan of The Goodbye Girl, and I know there are a lot of people who have affection for so many of his films. But this guy f–king sucks. He’s a bigot, a racist, a transphobe, a misogynist and everything else. Cancel him for good this time. Although, as I said, I do believe much of Hollywood already canceled him years ago. He’s gone the way of Jon Voight and Scott Baio. Ten bucks says that Dreyfuss will end up on a stage with Donald Trump before this election cycle is over.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
-
- Richard Dreyfuss on stage at Mark Kermode in 3d on Monday 24 June 2019 at BFI Southbank, London. Richard chatted with Mark about his upcoming film “Astronaut” as well as his career. /LFI/Avalon. All usages must be credited Julie Edwards/LFI/Avalon. /LFI/Avalon. All usages must be credited Julie Edwards/LFI/Avalon. Picture by Julie Edwards/LFI/Avalon. All usages must be credited Julie Edwards/LFI/Avalon.,Image: 536379879, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards/LFI/Avalon / Avalon
-
- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JUNE 23: American actor Richard Dreyfuss arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of RLJE Films’ ‘Murder At Yellowstone City’ held at the Harmony Gold Theater on June 23, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 702389959, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Richard Dreyfuss, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
-
- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JUNE 23: American actor Richard Dreyfuss arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of RLJE Films’ ‘Murder At Yellowstone City’ held at the Harmony Gold Theater on June 23, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 702390033, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Richard Dreyfuss, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
-
- BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 11: Richard Dreyfuss attends the Los Angeles premiere of “Sweetwater” at Steven J. Ross Theatre on the Warner Bros. Lot on April 11, 2023 in Burbank, California.,Image: 768853157, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Richard Dreyfuss, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
-
- BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 11: Richard Dreyfuss attends the Los Angeles premiere of “Sweetwater” at Steven J. Ross Theatre on the Warner Bros. Lot on April 11, 2023 in Burbank, California.,Image: 768854674, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Richard Dreyfuss, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
Doesn’t surprise me. He was always a douchbag and he continues to be one today.
I’m assuming his biggest issue with women working in the film industry in any capacity, is that he’s going to harass them. As is his manly right. But they might tell on him.
Much easier to just make the whole industry bros only.
He is so old, it doesn´t care anymore.
I’d be suing for my money back. Of course, I wouldn’t have paid to see him to begin with.
I’ve thought about this. I don’t think they should get their money back. They paid $300. They had to know something about him. If it was like $75 I would say maybe they didn’t know him and just wanted to go see an award winning actor. At $300 they knew him and deserve to lose those dollars. Lol.
I think it’s very possible that people would pay that much for a special screening of a favorite movie with a cast member giving a talk fully expecting the talk to be about the movie being screened.
@Kane, their words: “We were thrilled to see Richard Dreyfuss speak about his experience filming ‘Jaws,’ what it was like, his time in Hollywood,” Hogg said Monday. “That is not at all the experience that we got.”
Advertised as one thing, devolved into something else entirely. Of course they should sue for their money back. They did not get what they paid for.
Exactly…these people are always complaining about being cancelled for their “unpopular” political views (that are, in fact, very popular and increasingly backed by law). When in reality, they’re just bad business. No studio wants a star who runs their mouth off about women because, idk, WOMEN WON’T LIKE THE ACTOR. It’s bad business! And you’re a bad capitalist if you can’t see that! It’s not rocket science.
I saw him once in an interview and thought he came across so self-important and so inflated that I could only take a couple of minutes of that interview. I have the tendency of conflating an actor with the character he plays and that’s why I couldn’t stop seeing him as that guy in “The Goodbye Girl.” Just really love that adorable movie.
That feeling when you realize maybe you should have been Team Bill Murray in the What About Bob? feud. Geez, the bar wasn’t high Richard. 😵💫
Hes been making a killing on the convention circuit for a few years (that’s not a criticism, good for actors who can supplement their income like that. It’s a rough business out there). So given that, actively alienating a large number of people is extra stupid. His bitter crankiness used to be a bit funny and he was a good storyteller. Now it’s turns out he’s just awful and will be remembered as such. Nice job idiot. 🙄
He’s due to be in Raleigh for Galaxy Con in July. I’ve known he was a douche for years so I wasn’t going to see him. But I’m really glad I wasn’t. I’d hate to have been a casual fan and had already bought the meet and greet and/or photo op.
He was clearly looking for negative attention by leaning in to his bigotry. He’s so bitter his hate has gotten him cancelled. Coming out on stage in a dress? I’m sure he thought he was making a self-righteous political statement. Instead, he just reminded everyone why he should be left on the dust bin of history.
I finally figured out a good use for AI, let’s make an alternate ending to Jaws where the shark eats him.
Or an entirely new Richard Dreyfuss who doesn’t suck!
Giving Jaws food poisoning seems harsh.
He’s always been somewhat problematic but now I think dementia has entered the room. When I read this yesterday all I could think of was my late mother. The strange and random things she came up with seemingly out of the blue. If they can, his family should have him screened because this will only get worse and cause further embarrassment.
Yeah, I really wonder about this because…even a lot of hateful people are smart enough to reduce their rhetoric to audiences they think will appreciate it. Not being able to restrain yourself in a public setting where it could hurt your public image is an entirely different situation. He could just be a narcissist who thinks everybody should agree with him, but when it’s older people, and it’s to this extent, I do start wondering if everything’s all right upstairs.
I think you’ve got a great point. I volunteered for two years in an Alzheimer’s unit. I was warned repeatedly at the beginning that dementia removes the normal socials restraints on actions. So people feel free to express feelings and opinions they once would have hidden. On the negative end that resulted in a lot of hate speech, which we were encouraged to ignore. On the positive end I saw two same sex couples who felt free to express themselves after a lifetime of hiding their true feelings. Also, in a general sense, often a patient’s personality becomes more so with dementia. So, Richard Dreyfus gets more angry, racist, and generally nasty. Figures.
He is diagnosed bipolar. He talked about it in a documentary years ago. I don’t know though, if he had been just generally erratic, maybe. But it’s awfully convenient that everything out of his mouth was far right talking points.
Dementia can remove the filter all of us have in public settings. While it sometimes changes a person’s personality, it can also exaggerate an existing personality. It doesn’t turn a person into a bigot but removes the filter on the bigotry. Bigotry becomes rampant, as it seems to be here. But I didn’t know Dreyfuss is bipolar. That probably plays a role too if he was in the manic phase.
I agree, this sounds like dementia to me.
A close relative just passed from Parkinson’s. One of the symptoms of that disease is dementia. At the end, we loved her, but none of us liked her. She was stripped of all the good parts of her personality and only the bad was left. So if he has dementia, it’s very possible that’s why this appearance was so extreme.
I’m suspecting something neurological, as well.
It seems to me that when entertainers have difficulty with their inevitable loss of cultural relevance, they turn to the easiest way to get attention: shitty behavior. It’s giving toddler.
That’s a useful filter for life, I think, because it doesn’t just apply to entertainers.
Thinking of what this person who is saying despicable things in front of you may be fearing on a deep level can be helpful to generate empathy and grace in a face to face moment.
It’s not an excuse for sh!tty behavior and once you’ve seen that side of that person you can appropriately distance yourself – just in the moment, to act as you’d like instead of reacting to their crap, it could be helpful.
Pathetic. I can’t imagine being that angry and hateful at people for simply living their lives. I also can’t imagine paying $300 for those tickets, but there are some Jaws fanatics out there.
I did pay about $50 to go to one of these with Cary Elwes for the Princess Bride, and it was DELIGHTFUL. He seems like a good dude and tells great stories.
JK Rowling sending a Xmas card to a misogynist, are you kidding me?? She’d be more likely to send him a ticking parcel 🤣
Is it ageist and sexist to say I’m over with boomer men? Thankfully they’ve mostly retired so I’m not dealing with it in the workplace any longer and my father retired over a thousand miles from me.
This isn’t their world any more, they know it, and they have nothing to lose by being jackasses. Oh, my father was always a big fan of RD. Ask me how often we watched American Graffiti when I was growing up?
This is just so disappointing. Close Encounters and What About Bob (I know, I know – 2 big d-bags in that movie) are some of my favorite old movies. Dreyfuss has been open about his bipolar disorder for a long time (which doesn’t excuse a long history of bad behavior). It’s infuriating to see anyone go out of their way to spread bigotry and negativity when there’s already just so damn much of it in the world right now.
I guess I shouldn’t be, but I’m always amazed when people who have so much, were given so many great opportunities to fulfill their dreams express such uncontrolled anger at others. It’s like they want everything, and they never want their source to dwindle or to see anyone else get an opportunity.
People tend to forget that as back-a**words and racist and horrible a place as MA often is (shut up, born & raised, I can say that) it’s got that strong progressive streak that at least provides some semblance of balance. He bet on the bigotry and I don’t know that he really lost, since it seems like he still got not only his platform but his check, but at least more people know now. And if he’s invited back for future events – likely by the strong Republican contingent – his demented yelling at the sky will be limited to the audience that wants exactly that, and we can leave my fellow M*sshole Queeahs out of it (I’m also wicked queer, don’t @ me).