Jenna Ortega is reportedly threatened to walk off a massive horror franchise after Melissa Barrera, her co-star and on-screen sister, was abruptly fired from Scream VII after posting pro-Palestine comments on social media.
Last night that Melissa Barrera was fired from the hugely successful Scream reboot series, in which she portrays lead character Sam Carpenter, after posting statements about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine that were perceived as invoking a notorious anti-Semitic trope.
In a now-deleted Instagram story, Melissa Barrera asserted that “Censorship is very real” and questioned why she could not find “videos and information about the Palestinian side,” continuing on to say “western media” suppressed information and “Why they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.”
This last statement, in particular, was criticized as invoking the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Western media was controlled by Jewish people. Melissa Barrera was abruptly fired from the upcoming Scream sequel by Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the series (which is distributed by Paramount Pictures).
Spyglass issued a statement, saying, “[Our] 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.”
Less than 24 hours later, fans of the Scream series are alleging that Jenna Ortega, who portrays Barrera’s young sister Tara Carpenter in the movies, has asked to be released from her obligations and will walk away from a massive franchise in solidarity.
To be clear, this has not been confirmed by the Netflix star or her representation, so her actual actions and beliefs on the Melissa Barrera situation are unknown. In fact, while many commentators are citing a report from Entertainment Tonight, Inside the Magic has not been able to locate this article.
However, this has not stopped Jenna Ortega (and Scream) fans from overwhelmingly supporting the Wednesday actress and calling on her to quit the series.
On Twitter, it seems that @UnlHorror_ was an early account to make this claim, saying “🚨 Jenna Ortega asked her agency to end her contract with the scream franchise, after Melissa Barrero was fired, says Entertainment Tonight.
#JusticeForMelissaBarrera #Scream7”