Actress Melissa Barrera has claimed that Paramount lied about profits from Scream 7 after she was fired from the franchise for accusing Israel of genocide during the war in Gaza.
In 2023, Barrera referred to Gaza as a “concentration camp” before accusing Israel of “genocide and ethnic cleansing” in its war against Hamas in retaliation for the horrific October 7 terrorist attack.
“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” she wrote. “Cornering everyone together, with nowhere to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”
Spyglass, the company behind the film, issued a strongly-worded denunciation of Barrera’s original post at the time.
“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,” a Spyglass spokesperson said.
Barrera was subsequently fired from the franchise after starring in the previous two installments, taking actress Neve Campbell’s place as the new Scream Queen. When the time came for Scream 7 to go into production, the studio had no choice but to restructure the story around Campbell’s Sydney Prescott by heavily leaning into nostalgia bait with the return of actor Matthew Lillard. Despite negative reviews from critics, the gamble paid off and Scream 7 took in a whopping $200 million at the February box office.
In a lengthy interview with Variety, Barrera suggested that Paramount may have lied about the film’s box office haul.
“The seventh one sucked,” Barrera said. “I know. And I think they lied about the numbers. I don’t think it made that much money.”
Barrera also accused her Scream co-stars of being scabs for signing onto the movie after her firing.
“Did that seem scabby to you? Did it feel like those were people basically crossing the picket line?” Variety asked.
“Oh, one hundred percent. I think they all are. And they have to live with that. The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible,” she responded.
In the same interview, Barrera also said she has been building a list of “pro-Palestine” artists to work with on future projects.
“I kept track of the people who vocally came out and said something to defend me at the time. Susan Sarandon. Tatiana Maslany. Hannah Einbinder. Poppy Liu,” she said. “Obviously, Javier Bardem would be a dream to work with. He doesn’t need me to give him any opportunities. But yes, I have lists. I do believe in building a network of people who are like-minded. And for me, this is Chapter 2.”