Earlier today, the news broke that 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.
The actress was reportedly fired for sharing "anti-Semitic" comments on social media, but after reading through the Instagram posts in question, nothing stood out as being particularly controversial (Barrera was simply calling for a ceasefire in Gaza).
Whether Barrera deleted some of her previous posts is unclear, but Spyglass Entertainment has now released a statement explaining why they decided to drop her 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.
The studio has received a lot of backlash for this, so it'll be interesting to see if any of Barrera's cast-mates stand in solidarity with the actress.
Will Spyglass attempt to bring Neve Campbell back into the fold? 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 During an 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?
"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."