Melissa Barrera
Denise Truscello/Getty Images
Melissa Barrera is no longer starring in Scream VII. The actor was dropped from the project following a series of social media posts amid the Israel-Hamas war.
“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” she wrote in an Instagram Stories post. “Putting everyone in a corner together with no where to go, no electricity, no water… People have learned nothing from our history. And just like in our history, people are still silently watching everything happen. This is genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
Spyglass, the company behind the Scream franchise, had no comment.
Barrera helped revitalize the franchise with Scream, the 2022 feature film that grossed $137.7 million worldwide and reunited generations of cast members from the franchise. Barrera’s Sam Carpenter starred in this film and was the older sister of Jenna Ortega’s Tera. Barrera starred in “Scream VI,” which was released in theaters in March and has grossed more than 168.9 million copies at the global box office.
“Happy Death Day” filmmaker Christopher Landon takes over to direct “Scream VII” from filmmakers Radio Silence. Filming had not yet begun and development was slow due to strikes by actors and writers. Spyglass is now expected to realign its plans following Barrera. Paramount handled distribution for the last few editions and is expected to return for the new edition.
Earlier Tuesday, it was announced that actress Susan Sarandon was fired from talent agency UTA after she made comments at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City on November 17.
There’s more to come.