Scream VI star Melissa Barrera will not be returning for the upcoming seventh instalment in the long-running slasher franchise.
Initial reports indicated that the actress, who played original Ghostface Billy Loomis' daughter Sam Carpenter in the last two movies, was fired from her role for sharing "anti-Semitic" comments on social media, but her posts didn't seem to go any further than those shared by multiple other actors who have shown their support for Palestine and condemned Israel's actions in Gaza.
Spyglass Media Group saw things differently, however.
The studio released a statement explaining why they decided to drop Barrera from the next Scream movie, citing "rhetoric that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech."
“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.”
In addition, filmmaker Christopher Landon, who took the reins of Scream VII from the previous movies' directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, shared the following Tweet... which he has since deleted.
"This is my statement: [Broken heart emoji] Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make."
The studio has received a lot of backlash for this, as Barrera's fans (along with many other people) simply don't believe her comments crossed any lines. It'll be interesting to see if any of her cast-mates will stand in solidarity with the actress.
Will Spyglass now attempt to bring Neve Campbell back into the fold, perhaps? The former star of the franchise decided not to reprise the role of Sidney Prescot for the most recent film, after revealing that she was unhappy with what she was offered to return.
Campbell spoke about watching Scream VI for the first time during a recent appearance at Monster-Mania Con.
“I actually thought they did a really good job. I think the cast are really powerful, wonderful actors. I don’t wish these movies ill will. I wanted the movie to be good. It’s not like I’m sitting in my house going, ‘I hope it sucks, I hope it doesn’t do well.’ I care about all the people involved.”
“There’s someone at the top who only thinks about money and that’s their prerogative,” she added.
What do you make of this whole situation? Have Barrera's comments been blown out of proportion, or do you understand where Spyglass is coming from?