By Mike Redmond | Celebrity | May 28, 2024 |
By Mike Redmond | Celebrity | May 28, 2024 |
When Richard Dreyfuss started trending over the holiday weekend, after The Cabot Theater in Mass. apologized for his presence at a screening of Jaws, our current political climate had me bracing for something stupid and overblown like, I dunno, he said 10/7 was bad in front of some college students. But, nope, Richard Dreyfuss truly went full a**hole for an audience that just wanted to know about the robot shark.
According to The Boston Globe, the Q&A with Dreyfuss went immediately off the rails as he started ranting about LGBTQ kids, women, and the #MeToo movement. Turns out Mr. Holland’s Opus is in the key of hate:
“He said that the parents of trans youth, allowing them to transition, was bad parenting and that someday those kids might change their minds,” said Diane Wolf, of Salem, who was in the audience. She said Monday that the event is all she’s been able to think about since Saturday.In one comment that was captured on video, Dreyfuss said, “It’s not okay because when the kid’s 15, she’s going to say, ‘I’m an octopus.’ ” The crowd can be heard shouting at him.
Dreyfuss also had a lot of pepper in the tank for the #MeToo movement, and if you’re wondering if that’s because Dreyfuss was one of the male actors accused of preying on women, you bet! Most people probably forgot about those accusations or completely missed them, but they’re sure hearing about them now.
A Twitter user claimed her girlfriend’s parents were at the Dreyfuss event and provided a rundown of his meltdown, which reportedly included insulting both Barbra Streisand and Steven Spielberg for having too much power for a woman and being an idiot, respectively.
My girlfriend's parents were there, here's what they said lol pic.twitter.com/915i3O6Zb3
— kell-i 🔪 (@kleemcadams) May 26, 2024
Shortly after the event, The Cabot Theater sent out the following email (via Variety) where it apologized for Dreyfuss’s remarks and planned to do a better job vetting its future guests. The actor has yet to comment on the debacle, but when he does, I’m sure it’ll be real dumb.
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.
(Via Boston Globe)