Melissa Barrera is opening up about her firing from an upcoming Scream film following comments that she made about the Israel-Hamas war.
The In The Heights actor, who starred as Sam Carpenter in the most recent two films in the Scream franchise, spoke with The Associated Press in Utah on Thursday, after Spyglass Media Group — which is producing Scream 7 — said late last year that it had dropped her over pro-Palestinian remarks that the company suggested were antisemitic.
“Honestly, I think I finally am becoming who I’m supposed to be in life, and the last few months have been a big awakening of that,” said Melissa, who spoke to the outlet at the Sundance Film Festival premiere of her new movie Your Monster.
“I’m just so grateful for everything that’s happened.”
The actor, in separate comments to Deadline, said that she also felt “grateful on what I got to infuse in the franchise,” adding that it’s something she’ll “be proud of forever”.
Melissa had shared her support for Palestinians on social media following the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, saying in one Instagram update that Gaza was “being treated like a concentration camp”.
“Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water,” she wrote. “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.”
Spyglass removed Melissa from the Scream 7 cast in November, writing in a statement that the company had “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”.
Melissa, in a separate statement at the time, said that she condemned antisemitism and Islamophobia, as well as “hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people”.
The Scream sequel has since been rocked by the departures of Barrera’s co-star Jenna Ortega, who reportedly exited due to a dispute over pay, and director Christopher Landon.
Christopher, in a since-deleted post on social media in November, said that Melissa’s firing was not his “decision to make”.
After reuniting with Jenna and other Scream actors at a gala event last week, Melissa told Deadline that the group is “family for life”.
“If we’re ever in the vicinity of each other, we always find each other,” she said. “When we find each other, we just want to spend the night with each other, and nothing is ever going to change that.”