New York (QNN)- Melissa Barrera, who was fired from the Scream franchise three years ago over her pro-Palestine stance, criticized her former colleagues for siding with those who fired her. She also said she is starting a production company and wants to work with “anyone pro-Palestine.”
“The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible,” Barrera said.
Three years after production company Spyglass dismissed Barrera from her lead role in the movie over her social media posts regarding the Israeli genocide in Gaza, the 35-year-old actor opened up about the backlash in a new interview with Variety, in which she criticized her former colleagues for siding with the people who fired her.
After Barrera’s exit, and co-star Jenna Ortega’s subsequent decision to drop out along with the director, Scream 7 scrambled to restructure the film by bringing back some of the franchise’s original stars, including Neve Campbell and Matthew Lillard.
When asked if she considers the people who agreed to do the movie after she was fired to be “scabs” who “crossed the picket line” in protesting the war in Palestine, Barrera responded: “Oh, one hundred percent. I think they all are. And they have to live with that.”
The In The Heights actor added, “The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible.”
Agreeing with the Variety interviewer’s statement that Scream 7 “sucked,” she said: “I know. And I think they lied about the numbers. I don’t think it made that much money.”
She continued: “But at the stage door, I sign Scream things every night. People who love me from those movies are coming to see the show, and they can’t ever take that away from me.”
Barrera starred as lead character Sam Carpenter in two Scream movies: Scream in 2022, which is also known as Scream 5, and Scream VI in 2023.
She posted daily messages to her Instagram calling for peace, criticizing the Israeli killing of Palestinian civilians, and comparing Gaza to a concentration camp. She posted fundraising links to Palestinian human rights organizations and shared articles by Holocaust scholars accusing Israel of committing genocide.
When she was asked if she thinks there’s been a bit of a sea change in Hollywood around Israel and Palestine, she referred to Javier Bardem. “Javier has been vocal about Palestine forever. It’s funny. I thought, “Everyone must be getting affected, I’m sure.” But I have a friend who works closely with Artists for Ceasefire who has access to a lot of these artists, and she gave me the real and said, “No Melissa, they have not been affected at all.” And so that’s why they’re able to be so vocal. So, I thought, “It must be nice to be able to speak your mind and not have to suffer any consequences.” But we do need their voices.”
She added that “Susan Sarandon was someone who’s been affected by this, and she’s been super supportive of me. She came to the opening of “Titaníque.””
She told Variety that she is writing a romance that she intends to direct. “I want to give opportunities to good people. I have lists of all the people I want to work with.”
She said on the list, there would be “basically anyone pro-Palestine. I kept track of the people who vocally came out and said something to defend me at the time. Susan Sarandon. Tatiana Maslany. Hannah Einbinder. Poppy Liu. Obviously, Javier Bardem would be a dream to work with. He doesn’t need me to give him any opportunities.”
