Scream fans defend Melissa Barrera after she's fired over Israel and Palestine comments

22 November 2023, 15:13

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By Sam Prance

Spyglass have accused Melissa Barrera of anti-semitism after she shared articles in support of Palestine on social media.

Yesterday (Nov 21), Variety revealed that Melissa Barrera had been fired from Scream 7 after showing support for Palestine.

Spyglass then argued that Melissa's remarks were antisemitic. In a statement, they said: "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."

Now, fans are calling out Spyglass for misinterpreting Melissa's posts, rushing to her defence and encouraging people to boycott Scream 7 and other Spyglass movies now that Melissa will no longer be playing the role of Sam Carpenter.

Following the Hamas terror attack on October 7th and Israel's subsequent attacks on Gaza, Melissa has taken to Instagram to speak out in support of a ceasefire. On October 27th, she wrote: "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."

Melissa has also re-shared multiple posts and resources about the conflict including a link to an article from Jewish Currents magazine that refers to Israel's treatment of Gaza as "genocide". The writer, Israeli historian Raz Segal, also references one of his previous articles in which he says the Holocaust has been distorted to "boost the Israeli arms industry."

Now, fans are questioning why Melissa was fired. One person tweeted: "Wait...Melissa Barrera was fired from the Scream sequel for...sharing this Jewish Currents article written by Raz Segal?! He's a respected Israeli historian! A professor in Holocaust & genocide studies. If he's saying this, how is this a distortion."

Another wrote: "Not only is Spyglass slandering Melissa Barrera by falsely accusing her of being anti-semitic, they’re also actively denying the fact that a genocide & ethnic cleansing is taking place in Palestine as we speak."

They ended by writing: "What’s happened today is unspeakably sickening, & it’s only the start."

As it stands, Melissa and the rest of the Scream 7 cast are yet to comment on Melissa being removed from the film.

Official casting announcements for the film are yet to be revealed. However, Jenna Ortega (Tara), Mason Gooding (Chad), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Mindy) and Courteney Cox (Gale) are currently all expected to return.

In a now-deleted tweet, Scream 7 director Christopher Landon wrote: "Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make."

We'll keep you posted with any further updates.

Read more Scream news here:

• Matthew Lillard confirms Stu is still alive and was originally the killer in Scream 3
• Neve Campbell responds to Scream theories that Billy and Stu are gay
• Scream 6 directors explain why they didn't kill off certain characters in new movie

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