Jenna Ortega exits Scream 7 following firing of Melissa Barrera over Palestine posts

Ortega had starred alongside Barrera in Scream 6

The actor has dropped out of the film horror sequel due to scheduling conflicts with the second season of her hit Netflix series, Wednesday.

The news comes the day after Melissa Barrera was fired from the movie over comments she made on social media about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Deadline reports that Ortega's departure from the film has nothing to do with Barrera being fired. However, according to Rolling Stone there are rumours that Ortega had asked SpyGlass, the studio behind the Scream films, to end her contract due to Barrera’s firing.

The Wednesday star has also been vocal on social media about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Barrera and Ortega played sisters in Sam Carpenter and Tara Carpenter in Scream VI, which was released in March 2023 and grossed $169m at the box office.

Barrera starred as main character Sam in the two previous Scream films, but was fired from the franchise on Tuesday (November 21) over social media posts relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In one of her posts, the Mexican actor said Gaza was "being treated like a concentration camp”, the Independent reports.

Another of her posts read: “Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.”

Spyglass deemed to the posts to be antisemitic, and said in a statement: "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."

Responding to the news on X, Scream VII director Christopher Landon wrote: “This is my statement: Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”

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