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"Jaws" star Richard Dreyfuss reportedly upset some fans with political comments he made at an event celebrating the iconic Steven Spielberg film over the weekend.
The Oscar-winning actor was interviewed on stage at the Cabot Theater in Massachusetts about "Jaws" and his acting career before a screening of the classic shark thriller. However, some patrons walked out of the event before the film even started when the actor shared his opinions on gender ideology.
"He said that the parents of trans youth, allowing them to transition, was bad parenting and that someday those kids might change their minds," attendee Diane Wolf told The Boston Globe.
Richard Dreyfuss's polarizing comments at a recent film screening for "Jaws" reportedly upset some patrons. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Turner)
At one point, the crowd shouted at Dreyfus after he said, "It’s not okay because when the kid’s 15, she’s going to say, ‘I’m an octopus,'" according to the Globe.
"I’m queer, I’m nonbinary. This is personal to me," attendee Sarah Hogg said. "It’s one of those moments where you feel like you’re having an out-of-body experience. It was horrifying."
The actor also reportedly caused an uproar after making derogatory remarks about Barbra Streisand and the #MeToo movement, as well.
In a video posted to YouTube, the actor can be seen walking onto the stage wearing a dress over his clothes and dancing to a Taylor Swift song. Commenters claiming to be attendees described what happened afterward.
Alleged attendees described what happened afterward in the video's comment section.
"I was there - he talked about how he didn’t like working with Barbra [Streisand] because she wasn’t ‘submissive to him enough as a woman’, and then went on about how he doesn’t support MeToo or LGBT, and how 10-year-olds shouldn’t be able to get surgery. Later on he jabbed the crowd by mentioning his ‘famous Republican friends’ and so on," one person wrote. "Just felt really bizarre and out of place. About 20 to 30 people walked out, not ‘hundreds’ like some articles state."
Another person also said the actor made some "snide sexist comments" about how Streisand was difficult to work with because she was a "woman who should be submissive."
Richard Dreyfuss has attacked Hollywood's DEI standards in interviews over the past few years. (Youtube/TheRubinReport)
The crowd reacted negatively to these remarks, the commenter wrote. Dreyfuss also upset the crowd after saying the #MeToo movement is made up of "people who make me vomit."
Some audience members booed and heckled the actor after he continued to make negative comments about the transgender movement, according to this attendee.
"About a third of the theater up and left, with someone near me in the balcony yelled out 'See ya later grandpa!' There was also a woman in the back left of the balcony heckling quite loudly whenever Richard made his rude/ sexist remarks (I believe she was eventually escorted out after his anti LGBT+ spiel). Interviewer steered it back on track, but the evening was totally soured," the comment said.
Not everyone who attended the event was angry at the actor, however.
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On the Cabot's Facebook page, one patron argued that the audience members who left were actually the intolerant ones.
"I was in the back row of the top balcony, and I would say about 20 to 25 people left. It's a sad state of affairs where people are so emotional and sanctimonious that they can't even stay in the same room with someone they disagree with," Kyle Fiske wrote. "And ironically, that's the whole theme of Dreyfuss's book, that people need to be able to tolerate and engage with people on different sides of the political spectrum, as that's a foundational requirement of a democratic system. But hey, we are in the land of the witch trials - I guess he's lucky he got out of the theater without being pressed with stones!"
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A person displays trans pride flags during the NYC Pride March in New York on Sunday, June 25, 2023. ( Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The venue later apologized to patrons who were upset by the actor's remarks.
"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. 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," Cabot executive director J. Casey Soward said in a statement.
Fox News Digital reached out to Dreyfuss for comment.
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