Scream VII actress Melissa Barrera has been “quietly” dropped by Spyglass Studios from the upcoming project after speaking out about the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, Variety reports.
Barrera recently posted several statements on her Instagram story critiquing coverage of the war—“Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself”—and the war itself: “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” she wrote.
“Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water … 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,” she posted in another to her one million followers.
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Spyglass Media Group, the co-producer on Scream 7, said Tuesday that Barrera’s comments crossed the line into “hate speech.”
“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,” a Spyglass spokesperson told Variety.
The Mexican-born actress broke out in Hollywood as the star of the previous two Scream installments and also had a prominent role in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights film.
Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon, who had been set to direct Scream 7, took to X to voice his displeasure with Barrera’s firing, but sebsequently deleted his post.
“This is my statement: 💔 Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make,” he wrote. Many in the replies called on him to drop out of the film in support.
The Daily Beast reached out to Barrera’s rep for comment.
