Matthew Lillard feels “ashamed” for starring in this year’s “Scream 7” after Melissa Barrera was fired from the franchise due to social media posts criticizing Israel amid the war in Gaza. Lillard starred in Wes Craven’s original “Scream” in 1996 as Stu Macher. He reprised the role in “Scream 7,” which opened in theaters in February and became the highest-grossing entry in the series with $214 million.
“I don’t know how else to do it,” Lillard told the fan (via Entertainment Weekly). “For me, I have queer kids. If I’m not standing up for queer kids or kids in the trans community, then what the fuck am I doing? If I’m not standing up against ICE, then what the fuck am I doing?”
“Melissa Barrera, who’s a beautiful actor, was fired for what she said after the whole Palestinian — what started happening in Israel,” Lillard said. “It’s really fucking bullshit and really hard, and she’s on the right side of history. When they start coming after your job, sometimes things are worth it… When that happened to Melissa, the whole world didn’t pipe up. But she was a year early on what the fuck’s going on. But the whole world should have popped up and said, ‘She’s right.’ And they didn’t. And that’s brutal.”
After war broke out in Gaza in 2023, Barrera took to Instagram to share her views on the conflict. She was critical of Israel and accused the nation of “genocide and ethnic cleansing.” The post led to her firing, which in turn sparked backlash from her supporters against the release of “Scream 7”. Protesters gathered outside of the “Scream 7” premiere in Los Angeles, for instance, and called for a boycott of the horror film in a show of support for Palestine.
