What Did Richard Dreyfuss Do? His Controversial Jaws Screening, Explained

As one of the only two main actors still alive from the cast of "Jaws," it's only natural that Richard Dreyfuss is high on the list of guests for high-profile screenings of Steven Spielberg's seminal shark thriller. Or rather, he used to be. In all likelihood, his guest of honor stock has been in steep decline after May 25, when he was the star attraction of a "Jaws" event at the Cabot theater in Beverly, MA. This is because instead of discussing things like small details you may have missed in "Jaws," the actor chose to use the occasion to give some extremely offensive comments on the subject of LGBTQ+ people and women. 

Dreyfuss wore a skirt on top of his clothes during his entrance for the event's Q&A session, and after it was removed, he started making derogatory comments about women and the MeToo movement. He also slandered transgender people and their parents. "He said that the parents of trans youth, allowing them to transition, was bad parenting and that someday those kids might change their minds," one audience member told The Boston Globe. 

The audience didn't take Dreyfuss' comments sitting down, with some vocally protesting his views and several people leaving the event. Cabot representatives were quick to distance themselves from the actor's views, and expressed regret that the meet-and-greet — which some people paid $300 to attend — turned out the way it did. Dreyfuss' people haven't commented on the incident. 

After the event, J. Casey Soward, the Cabot's executive director, specifically apologized to patrons for not realizing that Richard Dreyfuss might have skewed toward a hateful direction. "We regret that an event that was meant to be a conversation to celebrate an iconic movie instead became a platform for political views," Soward's statement read (via Variety). "We take full responsibility for the oversight in not anticipating the direction of the conversation and for the discomfort it caused to many patrons."

In most cases, apologizing for not knowing in advance what a person is going to say might seem like PR overkill. However, there's a reason behind Soward's decision. The untold truth of Richard Dreyfuss might paint a picture of a complicated and talented man, but he's also earned a reputation of giving highly controversial comments. 

Much of this stems from a 2023 appearance on PBS' "Firing Line With Margaret Hoover," where he berated the Academy Awards' new diversity and inclusion standards and defended Laurence Olivier's use of blackface in 1965's "Othello." Combine this with his commentary at the Cabot, and further special guest gigs in Dreyfuss' immediate future seem somewhat unlikely.