Melissa Barrera on ‘Scream’ Firing: ‘It Seems Weird To Have a Platform and Not Use It’
With a new movie in theaters next month, Melissa Barrera is opening up about her career—and the social media posts that got her fired from Scream 7 last fall.
It’s been four months since Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream 7 over allegedly antisemitic social media posts in support of Palestine. In that time, Israel’s attack on Gaza has continued; more than 32,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis have been killed, and a humanitarian crisis has been declared in Gaza. The subject of Barrera’s social media posts, in which she controversially labeled Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide, is the lead-in to THR‘s profile of the actor, a puff piece that arguably contains more quotes from former co-workers than Barrera herself.
What Barrera does say, to the extent that she can say it, is valuable. As THR notes, Barrera has continued her outspoken support of Palestine, including sharing a Vox article about the willful misinterpretation of Jonathan Glazer’s speech at the Oscars, where The Zone of Interest won Best International Feature. “All I can say is that it is very important for me to raise my voice for those who don’t have one,” Barrera says. “It seems weird to have a platform and not use it for that.”
Barrera also reached out to Ava DuVernay about her powerful film Origin, which was glaringly omitted from awards season due to an aggressively insufficient marketing campaign from the distributor, Neon:
Since her Scream ordeal, she makes a point of supporting others who face backlash for being vocal online: “Now when I see someone going through something like that, I’m constantly checking in, because I know what it feels like.” This has included sending a message to Ava DuVernay to commend her 2023 drama Origin, which spurred debate over its lack of awards attention. “What you’re doing is what we should all be doing,” Barrera wrote to the filmmaker.
Another interesting tidbit from THR‘s piece: Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillette said they “were exited” from Scream 7 by production studio Spyglass, which couldn’t wait for the duo to film their next project before getting to work on the next Scream sequel. Their next film is Abigail, a vampire horror flick with an ensemble cast that includes Barrera, Kathryn Newton, Dan Stevens, William Catlett, and Giancarlo Esposito. That film hits theaters on April 19.
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
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