Richard Dreyfuss made some shocking comments in an interview published on Friday (Picture/YouTube/firingline)
Richard Dreyfuss has been branded a ‘twat’ and a ‘bigot’ for saying the Academy Awards’ new diversity rules ‘make him vomit’.
Speaking in a new interview, Jaws star Dreyfuss, 75, also defended Laurence Olivier wearing blackface in the 1965 film adaption of Shakespeare’s Othello.
Backlash over Dreyfuss’s remarks was swift, with some social media users calling him ‘racist’ while one person penned: ‘He’s a bigot and doesn’t know it,’ and another simply said: ‘#Twat.’
‘This just in Richard Dreyfuss has lost his mind,’ tweeted someone else, while another Twitter user fumed: ‘I seriously cannot believe the bulls**t coming from Richard Dreyfuss.’
‘Complaining he’ll now never be given the chance to play a black man may not be the knockout argument Richard Dreyfuss thinks it is,’ one person quipped.
‘Well Richard Dreyfus, your trash take on inclusion and diversity is terrible,’ pointed out someone else.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Speaking in a new interview, Jaws star Dreyfuss, 75, also defended Laurence Olivier wearing blackface in the 1965 film adaption of Shakespeare’s Othello (Picture/YouTube/firingline)
Dreyfus was speaking on PBS’s Firing Line to host Margaret Hoover on Friday (Picture/YouTube/firingline)
Dreyfus, who is an Oscar winner himself, was speaking on PBS’s Firing Line to host Margaret Hoover on Friday when she pointed out: ‘Starting in 2024, films will be required to meet new inclusion standards to be eligible for the Academy Awards for best picture.’
Hoover added: ‘They’ll have to have a certain percentage of actors or crew from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups.’
When asked: ‘What do you think of these new inclusion standards for films?’ Dreyfuss quickly replied, ‘they make me vomit’ (Picture/YouTube/firingline)
She then asked Dreyfuss: ‘What do you think of these new inclusion standards for films?’ to which he quickly replied, ‘they make me vomit’.
Dreyfuss went on: ‘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.
‘You have to let life be life and I’m sorry, I don’t think there is a minority or majority in the country that has to be catered to like that.’
Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for best actor in 1977 for The Goodbye Girl (Picture: Getty)
New Oscars requirements mean one or more lead characters must be from an ‘an underrepresented racial or ethnic group’ (Picture: Getty)
He then defended Olivier’s use of blackface, saying: ‘Laurence Olivier was the last white actor to play Othello, and he did it in 1965.
‘And he did it in blackface. And he played a black man brilliantly.’
Not stopping there, Dreyfuss continued: ‘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?’
More: Trending
He added: ‘This is so patronizing. It’s so thoughtless and treating people like children.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Dreyfuss for comment.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
The Jaws star has come under fire.