SHORTLY after actress Melissa Barrera was fired from the popular Scream franchise, fans were saddened to learn that Jenna Ortega would not be returning either.
Ortega plays the role of Tara Carpenter in the franchise while her older sister, Sam Carpenter, is played by Melissa Barrera.
The two were first introduced in Scream (2022,) and were then a part of Scream VI (2023.) Both films received rave reviews from audiences and critics, with Scream VI alone earning about USD 67 million during its opening week.
It was explained that Ortega would not be a part of the upcoming film as a result of shoot schedule conflicts with the second season of the show Wednesday, where she plays the titular character.
However, some speculate that her leave was actually due to Barrera being fired for posting pro-Palestinian views on her social media pages.
This is because the announcement of Ortega’s departure from the franchise came only one day after word got out that Barrera had been removed from the franchise.
Barrera, fired for pro-Palestinian views
At present, there is a conflict going on between Islam and Hamas, and Melissa Barrera has continuously used her platform to speak out against this issue.
One post that she made on her Instagram story, for example, read: “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together with nowhere to go, no electricity, no water… people have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”
She further explains that as a Latina, she feels a responsibility to use her privilege in raising awareness with regard to these issues, especially since her people have gone through many similar issues in the past.
After uploading several posts to her social media with regard to this issue, she was removed from the franchise, though the Spyglass Media Group in charge of the production of Scream 7 notes that she was being anti-semitic, hence why she was removed.
In their statement, the company said: “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.”
