Richard Dreyfuss Is Still Unfazed About the Backlash for Criticising Transing Kids & the DEI Death of Filmmaking

"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," he said.

Seventy-nine-year-old acting royalty Richard Dreyfuss is still defying those demanding he apologise for telling Hollywoke that its DEI agenda makes him want to puke.

He’s also still in hot water for asserting that the celebrity trend of “transing” kids was bad parenting.

Far from the “far-right”, the Oscar-winning actor with over 120 film credits to his name, broke with the system in 2024 after turning an advertised “light evening” of conversation into a full-blown protest.

Dreyfuss walked onto the stage in a dress, dancing to Taylor Swift’s Love Story.

During the Cabot Theatre Q&A, Dreyfuss doubled down on his civics activism, telling the audience,

“They took civics out of the schools 50 years ago without telling anybody. Which means we have no knowledge of who the hell we are.

“If we don’t get it back soon, we’re all going to die.

“Make sure your kids are not the last generation of Americans. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Reports from attendees viewed Dreyfuss’ comments as deranged.

People said they walked out because he questioned women having power, criticised the “me too” movement, transgender youth and LGBTQism.

Despite the venue issuing a verbose apology, 2 years on, Dreyfuss remains unfazed.

A big critic of Donald Trump – he has called the president an idiot, among other things – the actor best known for Jaws and Close Encounters, is not a fan of Hollywood’s new inclusion standards.

Discussing the DEI hire shift with Firing Line in 2023, Dreyfuss said, “They make me vomit.”

“This is an art form. It’s also a form of commerce, and it makes money.

“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.

“What are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings?

“You can’t legislate that,” Dreyfuss argued.

“You have to let life be life. I don’t think that there’s a minority or a majority in the country that has to be catered to like that.

“Laurence Oliver was the last white actor to play Othello, and he did it in 1965, in blackface.

“And he played a black man brilliantly.

“Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a black man?

“Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play the Merchant of Venice?

“Are we crazy?! Do we not know that art is art?

“This,” he said, “is so patronising.”

“It’s thoughtless and treats people like children. It says that we’re so fragile that we can’t have our feelings hurt.

“I truly believe you can make a great film, or a great painting, or a great opera out of the truth first.”

Try that first, he added, then if “you can’t do it, make up some nonsense.”

“But don’t tell me you can’t do that, that history isn’t that interesting.”

Modern films are “mostly crap,” Dreyfuss concluded.

“We’re going through this strange need to not create, but create sequels. Sequels are death!”

For example, the Jaws sequels “never came close to the brilliance of the first Jaws.”

“It’s one thing to be around a generation of people who went for it, who risked it, who said, ‘Let’s go for it.’

“And they made great films.”

Talking about civics, Dreyfuss said what’s lacking today is the “honour of dissent.”

Additionally, we’ve lost the idea of seeking the truth in history, “and you didn’t fool around about it.

“You told the truth, period.”