“Scream 7” director Christopher Landon issued a brief statement Tuesday after it was announced that actress Melissa Barrera was fired from the horror movie franchise due to her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.
“This is my statement,” Landon, 48, tweeted alongside a broken-heart emoji. “Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”
Landon has since deleted the tweet.
Spyglass Entertainment also issued a statement condemning the “In The Heights” star.
“Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear,” the statement read. “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.”
Barrera’s exit came after the “Vida” star posted a series of Instagram stories regarding the ongoing conflict.
“I too come from a colonized country,” wrote Barrera, 33, last month beside a Mexican flag logo.
“Palestine WILL be free,” she added in her caption. “They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.”
On Monday, she added: “At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude.”
In a second post, the actress compared Gaza to a concentration camp.
“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” Barrera claimed. “Cornering everyone together, with nowhere to go, no electricity no water.”
She added, “People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”
Barrera portrayed new series character Samantha Carpenter in 2022’s “Scream,” alongside fellow newcomer Jenna Ortega and franchise vets Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell.
The actress later reprised her role in 2023’s “Scream VI.”
Landon’s “Scream VII” is slated to slash its way into theaters in 2025 after being delayed due to the simultaneous actors’ and writers’ strikes that brought Hollywood to a standstill, but which now have been resolved.
Barrera is not the only actress to protest Israel’s actions in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Oscar winner Susan Sarandon was dropped by her management company, UTA, after the “Thelma and Louise” spoke out last week at a pro-Palestinian rally in NYC.
“There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country,” Sarandon, 77, said at the time.
Sources close to UTA told Page Six that several staffers at the company were extremely hurt by the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” alum’s comments.
Aviva Klompas, former director of speechwriting at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations, wrote that “when Susan Sarandon said that Jews ‘are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country,’ she was saying that American Jews have it coming.”
She added that Sarandon’s words implied “that we don’t deserve to live free from harassment and assault.”
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