Melissa Barrera is finally opening up about being fired from the Scream franchise. Barrera, who played Sam Carpenter in the last two Scream movies, was fired from the franchise for her social media posts in support of Palestine. And while doing press for her latest movie, Your Monster, at the Sundance Film Festival, Barrera addressed the controversy in an interview with Rolling Stone.
“I’m not the first person that’s happened to, but it was shocking,” the actress, who also attended a Pro-Palestine protest while at Sundance admitted. “I don’t even know what to say. I think everything that happened was very transparent, on both sides, and I know who I am, and I know that what I said always came from a place of love and a place of humanity and a place of human rights and a place of freedom for people, which shouldn’t be controversial. It shouldn’t be up for debate.”
As to how she’s feeling now, the actress told Rolling Stone, “So, I’m very at peace. The people who know me in my family know the truth about me and where I stand, and I think most people in the world also do.”
Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the Scream movies, released a statement regarding Barrera at the time of her firing that read: “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.”
Jenna Ortega also exited the Scream franchise after Barrera was fired. She played Barrera’s sister, Tara Carpenter. And when Barrera was asked about Ortega and how she had her back through all this, she responded with, “Listen, Jenna is a good egg. She’s a good person and we love each other. She would show up for me and I would show up for her no matter what.”