Melissa Barrera Reacts to Protesters at "Scream 7 "Premiere over 2 Years After Her Firing from the Film Benjamin VanHooseThu, February 26, 2026 at 6:56 PM UTC 0 Melissa Barrera on Dec. 15, 2025Credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty Protesters gathered outside of the Scream 7 Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday, Feb.
Melissa Barrera Reacts to Protesters at "Scream 7 "Premiere over 2 Years After Her Firing from the Film

Benjamin VanHooseThu, February 26, 2026 at 6:56 PM UTC
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Melissa Barrera on Dec. 15, 2025Credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty -
Protesters gathered outside of the Scream 7 Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday, Feb. 25
The demonstration comes more than two years after Melissa Barrera was fired from the project over social media posts
The actress appeared to react to the protests on her Instagram, and the Scream 7 director was asked about the protest on the red carpet
Scream 7's Los Angeles premiere was met with a group of protesters on Wednesday, Feb. 25, over two years after Melissa Barrera's polarizing firing.
Outside of Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood, demonstrators held Palestinian flags and picket signs with messages like "Paramount has a blacklist of actors who criticize Israel" and "Cancel Paramount+."
This comes over two years after Barrera, a lead in 2022's Scream and 2023's Scream VI, was cut from the cast of Scream 7 in November 2023 when the production company Spyglass took issue with the actress' social media posts after Hamas invaded Israel in October 2023.
On Instagram late Wednesday, Barrera, 35, appeared to react to the protesters who boycotted the premiere, writing on her Instagram Stories, "I see you" with a heart emoji.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the protest was organized by Entertainment Labor for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace-Los Angeles, and CODEPINK LA, which said in a statement that they wanted to bring "attention to the industry's widespread silencing of pro-Palestinian voices and its whitewashing of Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza."

'Scream 7' cast and crew on Feb. 25, 2026Credit: Eric Charbonneau/Getty
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On the red carpet, Scream 7 director Kevin Williamson, who was hired after director Christopher Landon quit the project, was asked about the protest by multiple outlets.
"I saw them and my heart just sort of stopped," Williamson, 60, told THR. "Look, we live in America. Everyone has a right to protest and everyone should be heard. And if you have your truth and if you want to stand up and be heard, you protest. That is your right in this country, and I stand by it. I support that 100 percent."
Additionally, Williamson told Variety, "We 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's happening. My heart goes out to them. I don't 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."

Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega in "Scream VI"Credit: Philippe Boss/PARAMOUNT PICTURES
About cutting ties with Barrera, Spyglass said in a statement shared Nov. 21, 2023, "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."
In various social media posts around the time, Barrera had made comments like, "Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself," and, "Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp."
Barrera soon spoke out about the situation, saying on Instagram a day after her firing news, "First and foremost I condemn Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people."
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"As a Latina, a proud Mexicana," she continued at the time, "I feel the responsibility of having a platform that allows me the privilege of being heard, and therefore I have tried to use it to raise awareness about issues I care about and to lend my voice to those in need."
She also added, "I will continue to speak out for those that need it most and continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom. Silence is not an option for me."

Melissa Barrera on May 2, 2024Credit: Dominik Bindl/Getty
That same day, Barrera's onscreen sister from the two recent Scream reboots, Jenna Ortega dropped out of Scream 7. Reports at the time cited scheduling conflicts, however, in April 2025 the star, 23, told The Cut her choice to back out "had nothing to do with pay or scheduling."
"It was all kind of falling apart. If Scream 7 wasn't going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn't seem like the right move for me in my career at the time," said Ortega.
In March 2024, Barrera told THR that Ortega supported her in the wake of her firing. "I love her so much. She's been very supportive of me, and we're sisters for life."
Since the controversy, Barrera, who got her big break in 2021's In the Heights, has starred in the vampire film Abigail, and the recent Peacock series The Copenhagen Test. Next month she'll make her Broadway debut in the musical Titanique.
About her firing, the actress told Rolling Stone in 2024, "I'm not the first person that's happened to, but it was shocking." She added that she felt "at peace" by then.
"I think everything that happened was very transparent, on both sides, and I know who I am, and I know that what I said always came from a place of love and a place of humanity and a place of human rights and a place of freedom for people, which shouldn't be controversial," she told the outlet at the time. "It shouldn't be up for debate."
Barrera has said she was only contracted for two Scream movies but that her character was meant to complete a story over a trilogy. "I did my two movies, and I'm fine. I'm good with that," she told Collider in 2024. "I got two — that's more than most people get."
Though Barrera and Ortega are absent from Scream 7, the other half of their "Core Four" return, Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown. Franchise alums returning for the new sequel include Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Scott Foley, Skeet Ulrich and Neve Campbell, who returns after turning down the sixth film due to a salary dispute.
In theaters this Friday, Feb. 27, Scream 7 is projected to earn about $60 million at the global box office upon its debut, according to Deadline, slightly under Scream VI's $66.4 million opening weekend in 2023.
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Published: February 26, 2026 at 09:09PM on Source: RED MAG
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Melissa Barrera Reacts to Protesters at "Scream 7 "Premiere over 2 Years After Her Firing from the Film Be...