Several celebrities have taken to their social media accounts in recent days to show support for Melissa Barrera after she was dropped from the upcoming film Scream 7.
The actress was fired following comments she made on Instagram concerning the Israel-Hamas war that the movie’s production company, Spyglass Entertainment, felt were antisemitic.
“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,” the company told Variety. After the news broke, the film’s director Christopher Landon tweeted and deleted that “this was not my decision to make” and that “everything sucks.”
The In The Heights actress’ initial comments referred to Israel as “colonized” land and said that “Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.” After her dismissal, she wrote, “I will continue to speak out for those that need it most and continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom.”
And now she’s got some additional people in Hollywood backing her up. Gen X icon John Cusack wrote on X (formerly Twitter) “that is crazy this artist is fired for stating facts.”
Snowpiercer and The Goldbergs star Rowan Blanchard wrote, “This sh– is very insidious and it goes on from the top down.”
Following Barrera’s firing it was learned that Jenna Ortega will similarly not be in Scream 7. Initially it was believed that Ortega did this as an act of solidarity with Barrera, but it has since been reported that her departure was decided months earlier. Nevertheless, many used the one-two of Barrera and Ortega as an opportunity to weigh in.
Among them were musician and film director Boots Riley, who suggested talk of the earlier exit was “damage control”; musician Kehlani, who wrote “solidarity” while tagging the two actresses on Instagram; and musician Lauren Jauregui, who wrote “love this woman” in a comment to an Instagram post suggesting that Ortega left the project over the incident.
Bottoms director Emma Seligman also tagged the two actresses on Instagram, giving them the applause emoji, and The Flash actor John Wesley Shipp saluted Ortega for “putting her money where her principles are.” Director Matthew A. Cherry added a sarcastic “sure, Jan” GIF to the report that Ortega’s departure was actually months ago.
Others who commented included Asia Jackson, Marwan Salama and Bex Taylor-Klaus.