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Richard Dreyfuss became a subject of criticism on May 25, 2024, after he appeared for a screening of the film Jaws, reportedly making a few s*xist and homophobic comments. Meanwhile, his son Ben has now responded to the controversy through a few posts on X.
Also known as Benjamin, he was born from Richard's first marriage to writer and producer Jeramie Rain. Apart from him, the duo are the parents of two more children, Emily and Harry.
Among Ben's latest posts shared on May 28, 2024, one of them featured a screenshot of a message sent by Ben's sister Emily. The message stated that Emily "got an android phone" and Ben wrote above the picture:
"Wow, just looked at my phone and learned about the disgusting outrageous behavior of one of my relatives."
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This was followed by a reply shared by Ben which reads:
"well, now you know why I refused to give him the password to his own twitter account for a decade lol."
Ben then added a link to an article shared by Daily Mail about his posts, saying that his response was mischaracterized and he was "not a left-wing activist." He said that his joke was not related to his father and added:
"I did not call my dad's behavior "disgusting" or "outrageous" since I wasn't there and didn't see it."
Richard Dreyfuss' alleged controversial comments forced a lot of people to leave the venue: Responses and other details
People magazine states that the screening of Jaws was held at the Massachusetts-based Cabot Theater. While the event was expected to reveal unknown details about Steven Spielberg's cult classic film, Richard Dreyfuss addressed other things such as the Me Too movement and LGBT+ rights.
However, the actor reportedly made some s*xist and homophobic comments, due to which a majority of the audience left the place. While the exact comments allegedly made by Dreyfuss remain unknown, a few attendees expressed their frustration on social media platforms about the same.
An individual, under the username @kleemcadams, claimed on X that Richard Dreyfuss made defamatory comments about Barbra Streisand and called Steven Spielberg an idiot. She even added a screenshot to her post.
"My girlfriend's parents were there, here's what they said lol", the user wrote.
The Independent states that the theater has apologized to all the attendees via email, saying that Richard's words "were not in line with the values of inclusivity and respect" that they prioritize at their place. The email also stated:
"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 theater also mentioned that they are in touch with everyone who came to the event and they are willing to work on the mission of "entertaining, educating and inspiring" their community.
YouTube video reveals Richard Dreyfuss' appearance at the event
The official details related to Richard Dreyfuss' controversy are yet to be revealed. Meanwhile, a video shared by the YouTube channel Paulieflix allegedly featured a brief moment of the Piranha 3D star's arrival on stage. He was reportedly spotted dancing for some time and two people assisted him in wearing a jacket.
The YouTube channel posted another video that was recorded towards the end of the Q&A session. It shows Dreyfuss speaking up about his book titled One Thought Scares Me …We Teach Our Children What We Wish Them to Know; We Don't Teach Our Children What We Don't Wish Them to Know. The book came out back in 2022 and Dreyfuss said in the video:
"It's about the fact that 50 years ago, without telling anybody, they took civics out of the curriculum of all public schools in America, which means we have no knowledge of who the hell we are."
Richard Dreyfuss reportedly continued by addressing the importance of that "knowledge" and requested everyone to ensure that their children "are not the last generation of Americans."
