Hollywood is cracking down on antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war. On the same day that Susan Sarandon was dropped by her talent agency for controversial comments she made at a pro-Palestinian rally, Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream VII for writing a series of social media posts about the ongoing war.
Barrera has been publicly calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East ever since Israel launched its counter-attack on Hamas, the militant group that took more than 1,000 Israeli lives and over 200 hostages in early October.
“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” she wrote on her Instagram Story at one point, per The Hollywood Reporter. “Cornering everyone together, with nowhere to go, no electricity no water.”
She continued, “People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”
In light of the news that Barrera would not be returning for Scream VII, a spokesperson for Spyglass, the production company behind the horror franchise, released a statement to THR.
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“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,” the statement read.
Christopher Landon, the film’s director, later reacted to Barrera’s firing in a since-deleted tweet.
“This is my statement: 💔 Everything sucks. Stop yelling,” Landon originally wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, per Deadline. “This was not my decision to make.”
Barrera made her franchise debut in Scream (2022) as Sam Carpenter, the older sister to Jenna Ortega‘s Tara Carpenter. As the first Scream movie in 11 years, it raked in $137.7 million globally, per the New York Post. The actress returned to the slasher earlier this year for Scream VI, which outdid its predecessor by making a whopping $168.6 million.
Decider has reached out to reps for Barrera for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
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