Richard Dreyfuss’s Son Ben Dreyfuss Addresses the Jaws Screening

Richard Dreyfuss Photo: Mark Von Holden/Variety/Getty Images

When X was bitten by a movie theater’s apology for Richard Dreyfuss’s comments at a Jaws screening on May 25, it begged the question, “What the hell could he have possibly said that warranted an immediate email-blast apology?” Instead of a Q&A before the screening at the Cabot cinema in Massachusetts, Dreyfuss reportedly went on a sexist and homophobic rant that alienated attendees, causing many of them to walk out. It was supposed to be about the shark, dammit! What was intended to be an innocuous Jaws screening exploded into a controversy that even got Dreyfuss’s son, Ben Dreyfuss, involved.

What exactly happened?

In footage shared online, Dreyfuss walks onstage wearing a housedress over his clothes, dances to “Love Story,” by Taylor Swift, then has a duo come rip the dress off, apparently pretending to do a burlesque routine complete with hip shaking. Attendee Diane Wolfe told the Boston Globe Dreyfuss went on, saying, “The parents of trans youth, allowing them to transition, was bad parenting and that someday those kids might change their minds.” According to another attendee, he also complained about the Me Too movement and Barbra Streisand caught a stray for being “a woman.”

Did the theater respond?

In a statement addressing the event, Cabot executive director J. Casey Soward wrote, “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.” The venue has now limited commenting on its posts on Facebook.

What about Ben Dreyfuss?

Ben Dreyfuss, Richard’s son, made a joke on Twitter on May 27 about the event, referring to a “family member” committing “disgusting outrageous” behavior — i.e., switching from an iPhone to an Android. Then, more directly, he tweeted, “Now you know why I refused to give him the password to his own twitter account for a decade lol.” This was promptly misreported by various outlets as Ben directly calling his father’s behavior disgusting and outrageous.

The next day, Ben made a post on his Substack, Calm Down, about the situation. “I was not there,” he wrote. “I am not in a position to judge what he said. But more importantly, it’s a free country. He’s allowed to have whatever opinions he wants.” When discussing his father’s choice to share those opinions, he added, “He should have just given the audience what they paid for. No one is terribly interested in the political thoughts of movie stars.”

This post has been updated.