Director Christopher Landon offered a short, but succinct, reaction to news that actor Melissa Barrera had been fired from his forthcoming movie, Scream VII, after making a series of controversial social media posts about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“This is my statement,” Landon wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday, along with a broken heart emoji. “Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”
The filmmaker deleted the post shortly afterward, but it was captured for posterity by Newsweek and Deadline, among other outlets.
Spyglass Media Group, which is set to produce Scream VII” confirmed to Variety in a statement Wednesday that Barrera had been dropped from the the film due to social media posts the company had deemed antisemitic.
“Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: 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 statement read.
The company didn’t specify exactly which of Barrera’s posts they felt had crossed the line. In one of her Instagram Stories last month, however, the Mexican actor blasted “Western” outlets for only showing “the [Israeli] side” of the conflict, before noting: “Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.”
In another post, she wrote: “I too come from a colonised country. Palestine WILL be free. They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.”
HuffPost reached out to a representative for Barrera for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
The Israel-Hamas conflict has proven to be a contentious issue across Hollywood. On Tuesday, actor Susan Sarandon was reportedly dropped by the United Talent Agency for remarks she made at a pro-Palestinian rally that was held in New York earlier this month.
Just how Scream VII will recalibrate following Barrera’s exit remains to be seen. She first appeared in 2021’s Scream as Sam Carpenter, the daughter of late serial killer Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), from the 1996 original. She reprised the role in Scream VI, released in March.