Richard Dreyfuss accused of sexual harassment while making a 1987 ABC special

Vulture

Jessica Teich says she was a researcher and junior writer on Funny, You Don’t Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville, a “TV passion-project” that Dreyfuss created, hosted, co-wrote and produced to celebrate the bicentennial of the American Constitution in 1987. Teich says she and Dreyfuss spent several years working on the project, and she recalls one instance that he exposed himself and “I remember my face being brought close to his penis. I can’t remember how my face got close to his penis, but I do remember that the idea was that I was going to give him a blow job. I didn’t, and I left.” Teich says that she never told anybody about the alleged incident, and that it was followed up with years of Dreyfuss' repeated attempts to coerce her. “He created a very hostile work environment, where I felt sexualized, objectified, and unsafe,” said Teich. Asked to respond, Dreyfuss said in a lengthy statement that there was a time when “I  became an a**hole,” adding: “I emphatically deny ever ‘exposing’ myself to Jessica Teich, whom I have considered a friend for 30 years. I did flirt with her, and I remember trying to kiss Jessica as part of what I thought was a consensual seduction ritual that went on and on for many years. I am horrified and bewildered to discover that it wasn’t consensual. I didn’t get it. It makes me reassess every relationship I have ever thought was playful and mutual.”