Melissa Barrera slams Scream 7 cast after being fired from franchise over social media posts
Melissa Barrera has shared her thoughts on Scream 7, three years after she was fired from the iconic horror franchise for social media comments on Israel.
Barrera was one of the major players in the revitalization of the hugely popular 90s franchise, starring in the fifth instalment in 2022, Scream, and its follow up in 2023, Scream VI, where she played the character Sam Carpenter.
After Barrera was fired from her role in the movie in 2023, Jenna Ortega made the call to drop out too, along with the director Christopher Landon, as it looked like the franchise was on its last legs.
Seemingly in a hurry to rebuild it, the next instalment went down the nostalgia route and pulled back some of the OG Scream stars, including Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard and Neve Campbell, as well as newer faces, such as Mckenna Grace.
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And now, Barrera hasn't held back on her former acting colleagues.
Melissa Barrera’s comments on the cast of Scream 7
In an interview with Variety, the star shared her thoughts on whether the people who continued to work with the franchise 'crossed the picket line' in protesting Israel's war against Palestine, and whether they could be considered 'scabs'.
She said: “Oh, 100 percent. I think they all are. And they have to live with that.
“The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible.”
Why was Melissa Barrera fired from Scream?
Barrera was fired from the Scream franchise in 2023 for social media posts that SpyGlass Media Group deemed anti-semitic.
At the time, she was posting regularly about the Israel-Hamas conflict, including a post that accused Israel of 'genocide and ethnic cleansing'.
She would also regularly post links to Palestinian human rights organizations for fundraising, and shared posts by Holocaust scholars accusing Israel of committing genocide.
Barrera shared a post about distorting the Holocaust 'to boost the Israeli arms industry' and another which suggested Gaza was 'currently being treated like a concentration camp'.
Spyglass, the production company behind the Scream films, issued the following statement to Variety about her firing: “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.”
'Silence is not an option for me'
But the In the Heights star completely refuted these claims.
She said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2024: “I believe a group of people are not their leadership and that no governing body should be above criticism.
"I pray day and night for no more deaths, for no more violence and for peaceful co-existence.
"I will continue to speak out for those that need it most and continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom. Silence is not an option for me.”
SpyGlass' gamble to return to their nostalgic roots appears to have worked for now, with Scream 7 smashing records to become the highest-grossing film of the franchise so far. It's believed to have raked in $97.2 million in worldwide ticket sales.
However, Barrera said she thought the film 'sucked', and questioned the numbers, saying: "I think they lied about the numbers. I don’t think it made that much money.”
UNILAD has contacted representatives of Barrera and SpyGlass Media Group for comment.
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Israel, US News, Politics
Thomas Bamford