Melissa Barrera was fired from the Scream franchise after her social media posts about Palestine were deemed antisemitic by Spyglass, the studio behind the franchise.
The actress played the role of Sam Carpenter, daughter of Billy Loomis in 2022's and 2023's Scream movies. She was set to appear in Scream 7 before she was fired.
In a recent interview with The Independent, Melissa said that "there were times where I felt like my life was over" after she was fired as she struggled to find work as an actor.
"It was quiet for, like, 10 months. I was still getting offers for small things here and there - I'm not going to lie and say there was nothing - but (the message) was, like, 'Oh, she probably doesn't have work, she'll say yes to everything."
Barrera mentioned that despite the layoff, Scream "gave me a lot in my career" and added that she made "really good friends" and has "such loyal fans from those movies."
More about Melissa Barrera's comments on Palestine
Melissa Barrera took to social media to call for a ceasefire and criticized Israel's response to the October 7 attack by Hamas. In one of her Instagram stories in October 2023, Melissa wrote,
"Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. This is genocide and ethnic cleansing."
In another post, she criticized the Western media by saying,
"Western media only shows the other side...why they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself. We don't need more hate. No Islamophobia. No antisemitism."
As a response, Spyglass dropped Melissa Barrera from the franchise and shared a statement saying,
"We have zero tolerance in 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 Mexican actress also added that her fans were very devoted to her and would say things like, "What they did to you is so messed up" during autograph signings and would often ask her how she was doing.
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Barrera added that she felt "invisible" for a while after the firing, and then all of a sudden felt like there was a switch when she started getting noticed again. The actress is currently filming a new espionage thriller series for Peacock and called the project "exactly what I needed to ease myself back into the industry and do something fun that's not going to destroy me emotionally."
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