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Actor Melissa Barrera fired from Scream VII over pro-Palestine posts

Actor Melissa Barrera fired from Scream VII over pro-Palestine posts

The production company claims her calling Israel a "colonised land" is antisemitism.
22 Nov, 2023

Production company Spyglass has dropped actor Melissa Barrera as the star of the upcoming Scream VII film over her social media posts about Palestine.

The company claims she made antisemitic posts when she referred to Israel as a “colonised land” and repeated an antisemitic trope when she posted “Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.”

Spyglass initially declined to comment on the matter but later told Variety that the actor was fired because her posts were seen as antisemitic. “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.”

Barrera, a Mexican actor who has starred in the fifth and sixth Scream movies over the past two years, did not comment on the news. But she hasn’t stopped posting about Palestine either — her Instagram stories are still full of pro-Palestine posts.

Filmmaker Christopher Landon, who is set to direct Scream VII, initially shared a statement on Barrera’s exit via X (formerly Twitter). “Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make,” he wrote in a now deleted post.