Melissa Barrera has been fired from Scream 7. The news was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, November 21st. The report indicated she was dropped from the project “after a series of social media posts in the wake of the Israel-Hamas War.”
Barrera played Sam Carpenter, the illegitimate child of Billy Loomis in the last two Scream movies. She was set to return to star alongside on-screen sister Tara Carpenter, played by Jenna Ortega (better known for her role in Wednesday) in the seventh installment of the slasher franchise.
The actress has been very vocal in her support for Palestine on social media, with Barrera’s last post on Instagram calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” she wrote in one post. “We must end the bombing of Gaza, secure the safe release of all hostages, and demand adequate access for humanitarian aid to reach the people that desperately need it,” she said in another. “THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING,” she also wrote.
Some online are speculating that a recent Instagram Stories from Barrera is about the Scream 7 firing. The Instagram Stories was of a sign that said, “At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude.”
She has not been the only artist from our communities to call for a ceasefire. Others like Oscar Isaac, Aida Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez, Tessa Thompson, Jenna Ortega, Miguel, Omar Apollo, Selena Gomez, and Lupita Nyong’o have signed the letter by Artists Call for Ceasefire Now.
Latin America as a region has also been vocal about the need to protect civilians in the region – with countries like Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, and Chile going as far as to withdraw their ambassadors from Israel.
Susan Sarandon was also recently dropped by UTA as a client after appearing at a Pro-Palestine rally.