Melissa Barrera, who plays original Ghostface Billy Loomis' daughter in the new Scream movies, will not be returning for the upcoming seventh instalment in the long-running slasher franchise after reportedly being fired for sharing controversial social media posts relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Initially believed to have been dropped from the movie for taking a pro-Palestine stance, it's now come to light that Barrera may have actually crossed the line into blatant antisemitism.
The story was first reported in Variety's latest print issue, and has since been backed up by /Film, whose sources claim that the actress' exit was "not due to calling for a ceasefire, but for crossing the line into antisemitism, including, as Variety reported, an antisemitic trope that Jews control the media. A rep for Spyglass declined to comment and Barrera did not respond to a request for comment."
More details on this story are certain to be revealed soon enough. We have heard that Barrera made even more inflammatory comments, but they have yet to be reported.
This will obviously require director Christopher Landon (taking over from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) to make some big changes, as Sam was the co-lead along with her younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega), and would undoubtably have had a major role in Scream VII.
If the studio has any sense, they will do their best to get Neve Campbell back on board for the next movie!
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.
"As a woman in this business, I think it's really important for us to be valued and to fight to be valued," she said. "I honestly don't believe that if I were a man and had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years, that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man."
Hopefully, there isn't too much bad blood between both parties and something can be worked out.
"Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter," reads Scream VI's synopsis. "In Scream VI, Melissa Barrera ("Sam Carpenter"), Jasmin Savoy Brown ("Mindy Meeks-Martin"), Mason Gooding ("Chad Meeks-Martin"), Jenna Ortega ("Tara Carpenter"), Hayden Panettiere ("Kirby Reed"), and Courtney Cox ("Gale Weathers") return to their roles in the franchise alongside Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra and Samara Weaving.