Richard Dreyfuss has been accused of making transphobic, sexist and homophobic comments at a screening of 'Jaws'.
The Cabot theatre in Beverly Massachusetts has issued an apology after the 76-year-old actor - who played Matt Hooper in the iconic 1975 shark horror flick - appeared in a housedress, swung his cane like a baseball bat and delivered a rant which offended attendees at an anniversary screening.
As reported by Deadline, social media users have claimed he first discussed his 'Nuts' producer Barba Streisand, hailing her a "genius" but insisted the movie sucked because women are "so passive".
He was also accused of taking aim at the #MeToo Movement, and another attendee claimed he "started down the road of how you shouldn’t be listening to some 10 year old who says they want to be a boy instead of a girl".
The outlet has obtained an apology sent by the venue to attendees.
The Cabot theatre's team wrote: "We are aware of, and share serious concerns, following the recent event with Richard Dreyfuss prior to a screening of the film 'Jaws' at The Cabot.
"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.
"We are in active dialogue with our patrons about their experience and are committed to learning from this event how to better enact our mission of entertaining, educating and inspiring our community.”
It has been claimed Dreyfuss made similar comments at another recent 'Jaws' screening this month, and last year he told PBS' 'Firing Line' that efforts in diversity by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences makes him "vomit".
He said: "We’re so fragile that we can’t have our feelings hurt. We don’t know how to stand up and bop the bully in the face.”
