Melissa Barrera, star of the rebooted “Scream” franchise, has been dropped from the upcoming film “Scream 7” due to her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war, USA TODAY can confirm.
The news comes after the actor shared multiple posts on Instagram Tuesday in support of Palestinians.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the film, referred USA TODAY to a statement shared with Variety on Tuesday.
Spyglass told Variety that their “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.”
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Barrera and Paramount, the film’s distributor, for comment.
In a since-deleted post to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, director Christopher Landon seemed to speak out about Barrera as he wrote, “This is my statement: Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”
Barrera, who had a breakout role as Vanessa in 2021’s “In the Heights,” joined the “Scream” franchise in 2022’s “Scream,” which revived the franchise following the “Scream 4” release in 2011. She reprised her role of Sam Carpenter in this year’s “Scream VI,” in which she plays the older sister of Tara (Jenna Otega); she also happens to be the daughter of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), the original Ghostface.
Susan Sarandon droppedby her talent agency following pro-Palestinian rally appearance, reports say
Melissa Barrera speaks out in support of Palestinians on Instagram
Through Tuesday afternoon, before Variety published a report “Inside Hollywood’s divide over Israel,” Barrera was sharing posts to her Instagram Stories about the casualties of Gaza’s children as well as a video from a Philadelphia protest calling for a ceasefire amid “genocide in Gaza.” (Variety’s article broke the news that, according to their sources, Spyglass had “quietly dropped” Barrera as the star of the next “Scream” film.)
Barrera has regularly posted and reposted content on the topic in recent weeks.
In her Instagram bio, Barrera includes links to donate to Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children. On Oct. 27, she shared a post on her Instagram feed co-signing Artists 4 Ceasefire’s open letter to President Joe Biden. She was among hundreds of actors, comedians and musicians who called for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
“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,” her caption reads.
According to reports from The Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, actor Susan Sarandon was dropped by her agency, United Talent Agency, after speaking out at a pro-Palestine rally over the weekend.
Militants crashing across the border from Gaza on Oct. 7 killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took 240 people back as hostages, Israeli authorities say. Israel’s ensuing military campaign has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians as of Nov. 10, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. On Tuesday, Palestinian health officials in Gaza said they have since lost the ability to keep count of casualties.
On Wednesday, Israel’s Cabinet announced a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would bring a temporary halt to the conflict and release dozens of hostages in a prisoner swap between the two sides.
Under the deal, Hamas would free 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip – mostly women and children – over a four-day period, according to the Israeli government. It said it would extend the lull by an additional day for every 10 hostages released.
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