Culture Beverly theater apologizes after actor Richard Dreyfuss’s offensive comments at ‘Jaws’ event - Many in crowd left as actor criticized MeToo and LGBTQ movements and parents of transgender kids

  • 🐕 I am attempting to get the site runnning as fast as possible. If you are experiencing slow page load times, please report it.
By Sabrina Shankman Globe Staff, Updated May 27, 2024, 7:10 p.m.

1717006419529.png
Many theatergoers walked out of an event at The Cabot theater in Beverley after "Jaws" actor Richard Dreyfuss's remarks offended attendees.COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION

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 Hoffmann walked out, along with many others.

“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’s representative did not respond to a request for a comment.

J. Casey Soward, executive director for The Cabot, said in an emailed statement that the theater is aware of — and shares serious concerns about — Dreyfuss’s comments at the event, which he said do not “reflect the values of inclusivity and respect that we uphold as an organization.”

He also expressed regret about failing to anticipate that the talk could go in that direction.

In recent years, Dreyfuss has made other, similar remarks. In an episode of PBS’ Firing Line last year, he said the Film Academy’s rules about inclusivity “make me want to vomit.” He went on to say, “No one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is.”

Looking back, Hogg said it’s upsetting to think about having shaken Dreyfuss’s hand before the event and shared a nice conversation about how much “Jaws” meant to Hoffmann, only to have Dreyfuss then go on stage and say the things he did.

“I’m queer, I’m nonbinary. This is personal to me,” Hogg said. “It’s one of those moments where you feel like you’re having an out-of-body experience. It was horrifying.”

Source (Archive)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for telling me his comments were objectively offensive, headline. I really wanted to be biased going in. Can you imagine the awful reality if you had framed his comments neutrally and let the readers decide for themselves if they rose to the level of being offensive? Would be an absolute nightmare. Thankfully you and the they/thems in your article helped me take the Right Side.

I'm glad journalists like you can form my opinion for me and tell me how to think and exercise judgment so I don't have to.
 
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.
I’m queer, I’m nonbinary. This is personal to me,” Hogg said. “It’s one of those moments where you feel like you’re having an out-of-body experience. It was horrifying.”
Did David Hogg finally Troon out or is this one of his relatives?
 
‘You probably shouldn’t mutilate your children for a fad.’
Crowd screeches like angry demented demons in rage
1.
I think that’s one of the oddest things about all this, how you can make a crowd do your thought policing for you.
2. Someone really broke the Hogg kid did t they? Did they Troon him out, maybe he wanted to stop playing along and this is his punishment.
3. Note the fact that he shook his hand and told him he loved his work and then as soon as he expressed a ‘wrongthink’ he hates him. This is like cluster B splitting, which is interesting, because it’s like they’ve created a personality type that’s deeply disordered in order to create people who are suited to being the enforcers in point 1. You need people to be malleable, able to forget Old Thing and care deeply about New Thing at the flick of a switch.
4. St Anthony again.
‘A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like us.’
 
I guess his comments were really rather milquetoast as they didn't even bother to print them out, they just told us what to think and believe he said. Typically jurnoslime tactics, don't dare to say the facts, just allude to them and tell the reader what a good person should feel and or believe.

TJD
Sounded like he was being jokey about a lot of this stuff while also talking about how downhill the country was going. Could only find a couple things about what he was saying.


GOn2hlMWkAExwhB.jpg

 
Doesn’t sound like he said anything homophobic to me. Sounds like he was just calling a spade a spade and saying what we all think, that troons are mentally ill sex pests and its deviant forcing that on kids who don’t understand the long term consequences of it.

Always liked him as an actor…
 
“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.

He was goddamn right, you idiotic cunt. Many of these kids are coming to regret what their psychotic parents have done to them. By God and sunny Jesus, I hate Massachusetts. The place and the potato IQ shitheads who live there, and regularly pollute NH with their transplants. Stay the fuck out of my state.
 
Thanks for telling me his comments were objectively offensive, headline. I really wanted to be biased going in. Can you imagine the awful reality if you had framed his comments neutrally and let the readers decide for themselves if they rose to the level of being offensive? Would be an absolute nightmare. Thankfully you and the they/thems in your article helped me take the Right Side.

I'm glad journalists like you can form my opinion for me and tell me how to think and exercise judgment so I don't have to.
I hope one day to remember this with a journalist kneeling before me trying to persuade me that they are human and worthy of life.

It's funny that Me Too is back after it was abandoned when Biden was accused of sexual harassment.

How can any of the audience find the second or third set of allegations against Kavanuagh be believable while dismissing the claims against Biden.

All this claiming to care about women is performative.
 
Last edited:
Back