The Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss is facing significant backlash for a question-and-answer session at a theater in Massachusetts over Memorial Day weekend. According to attendees, the 76-year-old actor made several controversial comments that were perceived as homophobic.

The event, held at The Cabot Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts, featured a $300-a-head screening of “Jaws,” the 1975 blockbuster that catapulted Mr. Dreyfuss to fame. During his appearance, Mr. Dreyfuss also criticized the MeToo movement, liberal transgender ideology, and his former co-star Barbra Streisand.

One attendee, identified only as Kerry, tells the Daily Mail that she attended the event with her sister, who had given her the tickets as a birthday present. Kerry described Mr. Dreyfuss’s entrance, where he appeared on stage wearing a dress and dancing to a Taylor Swift song, calling it an “LGBTQ moment.”

Initially, the event seemed to proceed smoothly, with Mr. Dreyfuss discussing his role in the 1977 Steven Spielberg film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” However, Kerry noted that the actor soon deviated from the discussion, making disparaging remarks about Streisand and women in general.

Other attendees confirmed that Mr. Dreyfuss accused women of being “passive,” which he claimed was the reason the 1987 film “Nuts,” in which he co-starred with Ms. Streisand, was unsuccessful.

Mr. Dreyfuss’s comments did not stop there. He continued with statements that many found homophobic, including criticism of the MeToo movement. Another attendee recalled Mr. Dreyfuss saying that society, “shouldn’t be listening to some 10-year-old who says they want to be a boy instead of a girl.”

On Monday, the theater apologized to attendees of the event.

“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,” a statement from the theater stated. “We take full responsibility for the oversight in not anticipating the direction of the conversation and for the discomfort it caused to many patrons.”