{"id":304027,"date":"2026-02-27T00:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/304027\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T00:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:48:07","slug":"pro-palestinian-protesters-call-for-boycott-at-scream-7-premiere-years-after-melissa-barreras-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/304027\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestinian protesters call for boycott at ‘Scream 7’ premiere years after Melissa Barrera’s firing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Protesters gathered outside the premiere of “Scream 7” in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, calling for a boycott of the film more than two years after franchise star Melissa Barrera was fired<\/a> over her comments about the Israel-Hamas war.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators were spotted<\/a> waving Palestinian flags, playing drums and chanting, “David Ellison, you can’t hide \/ You’re supporting genocide” outside of the red carpet on the Paramount Studios lot. Entertainment Labor for Palestine, CodePink LA and Jewish Voice for Peace-Los Angeles led the protest.<\/p>\n

“The demonstration called attention to the industry\u2019s widespread silencing of pro-Palestinian voices and its whitewashing of Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide in Gaza,” CodePink LA wrote in its news release. “Protesters gathered outside the event to raise awareness about the Boycott ‘Scream 7’ campaign and urge audiences to refrain from supporting the film.”<\/p>\n

“Scream 7” director Kevin Williamson told Variety<\/a> on the red carpet that his “heart goes out to” the demonstrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a world where a lot of bad things are happening out there, and I think a lot of people want to be heard and they want to have their voice heard about the bad stuff that\u2019s happening,\u201d Williamson said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if canceling Paramount+ is the way to do it. But I think people should listen to their inner self and do what feels good for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: Neve Campbell defends decision to reject \u2018Scream 6\u2019 salary offer, says she couldn\u2019t live with herself<\/a><\/p>\n

After the protest, Barrera posted, “I see you,” with a red heart on her Instagram story.<\/p>\n

After Barrera referred to Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza as “genocide and ethnic cleansing” on social media, “Scream” production company Spyglass Media Group fired her from “Scream 7.”<\/p>\n

\u201cSpyglass\u2019 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,\u201d a Spyglass Media representative told Variety<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

Barrera’s co-star Jenna Ortega left the horror franchise the day after Spyglass’ announcement. She later told the Cut<\/a> that her decision “had nothing to do with pay or scheduling,” as initially reported. Original director Christopher Landon exited<\/a> the film shortly after.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart,\u201d Ortega told the Cut. \u201cIf ‘Scream VII’ wasn\u2019t going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn\u2019t seem like the right move for me in my career at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film moved forward with Neve Campbell returning to star and Williamson \u2014 the franchise creator \u2014 directing “Scream 7.”<\/p>\n

Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

In September, Ortega and Barrera joined more than 5,000 film figures pledging to boycott the Israeli movie industry in an open letter<\/a> by Film Workers for Palestine. The signatories promised to not “screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions … that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”<\/p>\n

In response, about 1,200 other Hollywood figures signed another letter<\/a> rejecting the boycott \u2014 a reflection of the divide in Hollywood over the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Indie Focus, a weekly newsletter about movies and what\u2019s going on in the wild world of cinema.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protesters gathered outside the premiere of “Scream 7” in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, calling for a boycott…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,11948,156,78407,2047,68204,78375,111,139,69,166507,31699],"class_list":{"0":"post-304027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-david-ellison","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-kevin-williamson","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-melissa-barrera","14":"tag-neve-campbell","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-paramount-pictures-studios","19":"tag-scream"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}