{"id":304071,"date":"2026-02-27T01:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T01:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/304071\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T01:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T01:24:08","slug":"scream-7-premiere-crashed-by-pro-palestine-protesters-two-years-after-melissa-barreras-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/304071\/","title":{"rendered":"Scream 7 premiere crashed by pro-Palestine protesters two years after Melissa Barrera\u2019s firing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barrera criticised Israel in 2023, writing that Gaza was \u201ccurrently being treated like a concentration camp\u201d and resharing a post that said Israel was committing genocide by \u201cbrutally killing innocent Palestinians\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israeli military activities in Gaza were formally described as a genocide<\/a> by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory in September last year.<\/p>\n

Scream 7 director Kevin Williamson told the Hollywood Reporter he supported the right to protest \u201c100%\u201d, going on to opine to Variety that \u201chis heart goes out\u201d to those gathered outside.<\/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 bad stuff that\u2019s happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if cancelling 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

Barrera has seemingly responded to the protests herself, sharing a post to her Instagram that reads \u201cI see you\u201d alongside a heart emoji.<\/p>\n

\"MelissaMelissa Barrera was fired from the Scream franchise in 2023 after she said Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Photo \/ Arturo Holmes, Getty Images<\/p>\n

In November, Variety reported that Paramount was blacklisting creatives that are politically vocal about Palestine, refusing to work with stars they have deemed \u201covertly antisemitic\u201d.<\/p>\n

Barrera held firm on her statements at the time, writing on Instagram that \u201csilence is not an option\u201d when news of her firing broke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will continue to speak out for those that need it most and continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her co-lead Jenna Ortega left the franchise at the same time, clarifying last year that her decision to quit the series \u201chad nothing to do with pay or scheduling\u201d.<\/p>\n

Controversially, the series\u2019 original lead Neve Campbell returned for the newest instalment after her absence in the sixth film, which was focused on Barrera and Ortega.<\/p>\n

She departed the iconic horror franchise in 2023 following a dispute about her pay, only agreeing to reprise her role in Scream 7 after she was offered a reported US$7 million ($11.7 million) figure.<\/p>\n

Critics said those appearing in the subsequent films lacked solidarity towards Barrera and were complicit in the ongoing deaths of Palestinian civilians.<\/p>\n

Other franchise alums Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard also attended the premiere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barrera criticised Israel in 2023, writing that Gaza was \u201ccurrently being treated like a concentration camp\u201d and resharing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3376,74,46794,166517,166516,3595,430,13982,1741,15979,156,3049,13687,10750,166518,7240,74216,111,10511,139,69,16083,23743,25266,12622,31699,111461,1237,21539,1530],"class_list":["post-304071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-actor","tag-after","tag-angeles","tag-barrera","tag-barreras","tag-by","tag-celebrities","tag-continues","tag-controversy","tag-crashed","tag-entertainment","tag-firing","tag-franchise","tag-instalment","tag-interrupted","tag-lead","tag-melissa","tag-new-zealand","tag-newest","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-premiere","tag-propalestine","tag-protesters","tag-sacked","tag-scream","tag-shadowed","tag-two","tag-views","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304071","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=304071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}