Melissa Barrera will not be returning for “Scream VII” after the actress was fired for posts she made online regarding the Israel-Hamas war…
Melissa Barrera will not return for “Scream VII.”
On Tuesday, Spyglass — the studio responsible for the recent “Scream” sequels — confirmed that Barrera had been fired from her role in the upcoming sequel that will be directed by Christopher Landon. Barrera’s firing stems from posts she made on social media regarding the Israel-Hamas war, which the studio blasted in a statement released after news about her removal from the film was first publicized.
“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,” Spyglass said in a statement.
Barrera hasn’t addressed her firing publicly yet.
“Scream VII” director Christopher Landon (“Happy Death Day,” “Freaky”), who took over the latest sequel after the filmmakers from Radio Silence bowed out following work on the fifth “Scream” film as well as “Scream VI” released earlier this year.
“This is my statement: ???? Everything sucks. Stop yelling,” Landon wrote in a now deleted post. “This was not my decision to make.”
Barrera served in the lead role for the fifth “Scream” film starring as Samantha Carpenter, whose character was later revealed to be the daughter of original “Scream” killer Billy Loomis. Barrera then returned as part of the ensemble cast for “Scream VI,” which earned over $168 million at the box office.
As for the seventh “Scream” film, Barrera was expected to return alongside co-stars Jenna Ortega, who portrays her sister in the films, as well as Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy-Brown. There was no official word yet if any legacy cast members were returning after Courteney Cox remained the only person to appear in all six “Scream” movies after Neve Campbell declined to return to the sixth film over pay disputes with the studio.
Now “Scream VII” has lost another lead star with Barrera’s firing and it remains to be seen what will happen with the latest sequel that was supposed to go into production in 2024.
