“I prefer to be excluded for who I include rather than to be included for who I exclude.” These are the words shared Monday by actress Melissa Barrera after being removed from the Scream saga for her comments on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The actress who plays Sam Carpenter in the last two films of the saga and who was expected to star in the next Scream VII is known for her commitment to the Palestinian cause. On Monday, Deadline magazine relayed certain messages published by the Mexican actress on her Instagram account about the conflict. “I too come from a colonized country” or “Palestine will be free”, we can read.
Spyglass Media, the company in charge of producing the franchise, has decided to thank the 33-year-old actress. If it did not agree to respond to requests from the various Anglo-Saxon media, the company Spyglass Media explained its decision in a press release, claiming to have “no tolerance for anti-Semitism or incitement to hatred under any ‘any form’.
When the news was announced, Christopher Landon, director of the next Scream, reacted on his X account (ex-Twitter): “Here is my press release: This all sucks. Stop shouting. It wasn’t my decision,” he explained before deleting his message. The situation is not likely to improve for the Californian filmmaker: Deadline affirmed on Wednesday that Jena Ortega, second star of the cast of Scream and sister of Sam Carpenter’s character, would not participate in the adventure either. A hypothesis already discussed before the strike in Hollywood, which “has nothing to do with the dismissal of Melissa Barrera,” explains the magazine. The 21-year-old actress, star of the series Wednesday on Netflix, must go to Ireland in April to film the second season of the successful soap opera, and will not be able to film both at the same time.
