Melissa Barrera Slams ‘Scabby’ Co-Stars Who Returned For Scream 7

Melissa Barrera has shared her take on her former Scream colleagues who made the decision to return for the franchise’s controversial latest instalment.

Back in 2023, Melissa was publicly fired from the film series after sharing support for Palestine and writing on social media that Gaza is being “treated like a concentration camp” back in 2023.

“People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE AND ETHNIC CLEANSING,” she said in the posts at the time.

Melissa also pointed out that “censorship is very real” and that she’d been “actively looking for videos and information about the Palestinian side” because “western media only shows the other side”.

“Why they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself,” she added.

At the time, the film’s production company Spyglass released a statement saying they “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”.

Jenna Ortega, who played Melissa’s on-screen sister in the films, departed Scream 7 along with original director Christopher Landon shortly after Melissa’s firing, with many fans calling on the movie to be boycotted in the lead-up to its release.

In a new interview with Variety, Melissa was asked directly whether she felt like Scream 7’s cast members were “scabby” and “crossing the picket line” after the fallout.

“Oh, one hundred percent,” she responded. “I think they all are. And they have to live with that.

“The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible.”

Melissa played Sam Carpenter in 2022′s Scream and the follow-up Scream VI.

Actors including Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Mason Gooding and Anna Camp all starred in Scream 7 following her departure.

In a statement issued after she was dropped by Spyglass in 2023, Melissa said: “First and foremost I condemn Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people.”

She added: “I believe a group of people are NOT their leadership, and that no governing body should be above criticism.”

Elsewhere in her new interview, Melissa spoke about going through “ten torturous months of uncertainty, and no work, and suffering” after the Scream 7 fall-out, which she claimed was broken when rapper and filmmaker Boots Riley offered her a part in his movie I Love Boosters.

The actor also described her punishment for speaking out as “a perfect storm”.

“I’m a woman of colour in this industry. I’m ‘on the rise,’ but I don’t have a big enough name to be untouchable, so they can make an example out of me,” she explained.

Melissa also praised actors like “fucking icon” Susan Sarandon and Javier Bardem for being vocal in their support for Palestine, revealing that Susan had shown her support and attended the opening night of her current Broadway musical, Titanique.