{"id":195590,"date":"2026-02-26T23:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T23:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/195590\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T23:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T23:38:08","slug":"pro-palestinian-protesters-call-for-boycott-at-scream-7-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/195590\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestinian protesters call for boycott at \u2018Scream 7\u2019 premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Los Angeles\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Protesters gathered outside the premiere of \u201cScream 7\u201d in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, calling for a boycott of the film more than two years after franchise star Melissa Barrera was <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/delos\/story\/2024-04-23\/melissa-barrera-abigail-scream-fired-palestine-gaza\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fired<\/a> over her comments about the Israel-Hamas war. <\/p>\n<p>Demonstrators were <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Borys_Kit\/status\/2026861088613216675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2026861088613216675%7Ctwgr%5E63fa18e066a8be6b88433c7126cc3a3090b2ca57%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com%2Fmovies%2Fmovie-news%2Fpro-palestine-protestors-scream-7-l-a-premiere-1236515853%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">spotted<\/a> waving Palestinian flags, playing drums and chanting, \u201cDavid Ellison, you can\u2019t hide \/ You\u2019re supporting genocide\u201d 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<p>\u201cThe demonstration called attention to the industry\u2019s widespread silencing of pro-Palestinian voices and its whitewashing of Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide in Gaza,\u201d CodePink LA wrote in its news release. \u201cProtesters gathered outside the event to raise awareness about the Boycott \u2018Scream 7\u2019 campaign and urge audiences to refrain from supporting the film.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cScream 7\u201d director Kevin Williamson told <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/news\/protest-scream-7-premiere-melissa-barrera-paramount-1236673201\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Variety<\/a> on the red carpet that his \u201cheart goes out to\u201d the demonstrators. <\/p>\n<p>\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<p>After the protest, Barrera posted, \u201cI see you,\u201d with a red heart on her Instagram story. <\/p>\n<p>After Barrera referred to Israel\u2019s wartime conduct in Gaza as \u201cgenocide and ethnic cleansing\u201d on social media, \u201cScream\u201d production company Spyglass Media Group fired her from \u201cScream 7.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\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 <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2023\/film\/news\/scream-producers-explain-melissa-barrera-fired-antisemitism-1235804914\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Variety<\/a> in 2023. <\/p>\n<p>Barrera\u2019s co-star Jenna Ortega left the horror franchise the day after Spyglass\u2019 announcement. She later told <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/jenna-ortega-wednesday-season-2-death-of-a-unicorn-interview.html?utm_campaign=thecut&amp;utm_medium=s1&amp;utm_source=insta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the Cut<\/a> that her decision \u201chad nothing to do with pay or scheduling,\u201d as initially reported. Original director <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/movies\/story\/2023-12-23\/director-christopher-landon-leaves-embattled-scream-vii-project\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christopher Landon exited<\/a> the film shortly after. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart,\u201d Ortega told the Cut. \u201cIf \u2018Scream VII\u2019 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<p>The film moved forward with Neve Campbell returning to star and  Williamson \u2014 the franchise creator \u2014 directing \u201cScream 7.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n<p>In September, Ortega and Barrera joined more than 5,000 film figures pledging to boycott the Israeli movie industry in an <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/filmworkersforpalestine.org\/#endingcomplicity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">open letter<\/a> by Film  Workers for Palestine. The signatories promised to not \u201cscreen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions &#8230; that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response, about 1,200 other Hollywood figures signed another <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.creativecommunityforpeace.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/24\/filmopenletter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">letter<\/a> rejecting the boycott \u2014 a reflection of the divide in Hollywood over the war in Gaza. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Protesters gathered outside the premiere of \u201cScream 7\u201d in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, calling for a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[74684,91304,8142,91303,1924,4004,60220,69889,340,48,52,51,47,50,49,59115,3783,592,36489,91302,19727],"class_list":{"0":"post-195590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-boycott","9":"tag-codepink-la","10":"tag-comment","11":"tag-ethnic-cleansing","12":"tag-film","13":"tag-gaza","14":"tag-genocide","15":"tag-hate","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-la-headlines","19":"tag-la-news","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","22":"tag-los-angeles-news","23":"tag-melissa-barrera","24":"tag-palestine","25":"tag-people","26":"tag-premiere","27":"tag-pro-palestinian-protester","28":"tag-scream"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}