Melissa Barrera was set to reprise her leading role in Scream VII, but was recently fired from the role by the company producing the sequel, Spyglass Media Group. This comes after Barrera had made a number of posts about the ongoing military conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel. Barrera supposedly shared a post that accused Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
When news broke of Barrera’s dismissal from the long-running horror franchise, neither she nor Spyglass commented on the news. Recently though, Spyglass explained their decision, claiming that Barrera comments were antisemitic.
They said…
Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.
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While it might not be the best move for an actress in an extremely public-facing role to make statements that could be construed as “holocaust distortion” article, many people are worried for the people suffering in Gaza. That includes Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Barrera starred as Sam in both Scream and Scream VI, and essentially inherited the lead heroine role of the franchise from Neve Campbell. The entire ongoing franchise had been based around her and her character. So dismissing her from the series could potentially have massive repercussions for the future of Scream. (Her role could theoretically be recast.)
Barrera isn’t the only celebrity who’s been dropped in recent times over pro-Palestinian comments. Susan Sarandon was also dropped from her representatives at UTA this week over similar public statements.
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