In a somewhat Boston-related Ask Billy question, Kyle in Philadelphia asked, “Is Richard Dreyfuss insane?  What happened at that screening of Jaws when he went off on women, trans people, and Barbra?”

This is what happens when I leave Boston – chaos ensues.  Although, to be fair, the incident in question happened in Beverly, Massachusetts at the Cabot Theatre.  The event was called An Evening with Richard Dreyfuss and Jaws Screening.  For reasons unknown, he made his entrance in a dress – which was quickly taken off with the help of two female stagehands.  Onstage with a moderator, Dreyfuss showed some clips from his career, and audience members asked a number of questions.  When the subject turned to the film Nuts, he called Barbra Streisand a genius and a great talent, but also said she is stubborn and she should know her place.  Curiously, he added “women are so passive…that’s why the movie sucked.”  When asked about the #MeToo movement, he said many of those people make him want to vomit.  Somehow he dovetailed to trans youths, saying how “you shouldn’t be listening to some 10-year-old who says they want to be a boy instead of a girl”.  He added, “It’s not OK because when the kid’s 15, she’s going to say, ‘I’m an octopus’.”  At that point, a flurry of people walked out.  He also talked about how many of the problems in this country came about when the schools stopped teaching civics – which I find hard to disagree with.  After the fact, the actor’s son Ben spoke up saying, “Well, now you know why I refused to give him the password to his own twitter account for a decade.”  You can see clips from the evening on BillyMasters.com.