Melissa Barrera has opened up about her firing from the Scream franchise, noting how important she feels it is to use her platform to speak her mind.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in a recent profile, Barrera recalled what a tough time it was in the moment, especially with rumors circulating that she would be dropped from her agency, WME, which Barrera said was never the case.
“It’s definitely hard, because I was just in such a cloudy state of mind, but I was very fortunate,” said Barrera. “I had a lot of support from the people around me: my team and specifically my publicists — they just carried me.”
Barrera also denied any rumors that Spyglass warned her about social media posts or asked her to tone things down before firing her, something Barrera said “not at all” happened.
As far as a return goes, Barrera didn’t seem optimistic, but said that anything can happen in the future.
“I’ve learned to never say never, but also a lot of things would have to happen for Sam to come back,” said Barrera. “For now, next page, next chapter, and then we’ll see what the future holds.”
Barrera’s exit came as a surprise to Scream fans
Late last year, the actress took to Instagram to share a story in support of Palestine amidst the ongoing conflict. In her story, Barrera said that Palestine would be free, and said she — a Mexican-born woman — also came from a colonized country. Since then, she’s continued to support Palestine on her social media.
Barrera did allude to her firing in remarks she made about director Jonathan Glazer and actor Mark Ruffalo’s comments on Gaza, specifically when noting that she feels as if women of color have a harder time expressing themselves in the public.
“It’s very evident that that’s the case,” Barrera said. “All I can say is that it is very important for me to raise my voice for those who don’t have one. It seems weird to have a platform and not use it for that.”
Since then, the status of Scream 7 has changed quite a bit. Star Jenna Ortega also dropped out of the project shortly after, as did director Christopher Landon. Recently, it was announced that Neve Campbell would be reprising her role as Sidney Prescott for the upcoming horror sequel after she skipped out on Scream 6 over payment disputes.
