Melissa Barrera is speaking more openly than ever about her controversial exit from the Scream franchise — and she’s not sugarcoating how she feels about the people who stayed behind.
The 35-year-old actress, who was dropped from the franchise in 2023 after sharing pro-Palestine posts on social media that the studio allegedly deemed antisemitic, addressed the fallout in a brutally candid interview with Variety while promoting her Broadway run in Titanique.
Melissa, who played Sam Carpenter in the recent Scream films, reflected on how the horror franchise still follows her — even in unexpected places.
During Titanique, there’s a moment featuring the line “Do you wanna die, Sidney?” — a direct nod to the iconic horror series.
“And that was already there, but now it’s funnier because it’s directed at me!” she remarked.
The actress acknowledged that despite the painful way things ended, she still has affection for the films that helped elevate her career globally.
“Yeah, a little bit. The reality is that Scream is always going to be a big part of me because it was two years of my life, it gave me a lot, and I’m grateful specifically to Matt [Bettinelli-Olpin] and Tyler [Gillett] who gave me that shot. That hasn’t been soured for me. They don’t have that power.”
But Melissa became significantly more direct when the conversation turned to Scream 7 itself.
After interviewer Marlow Stern bluntly commented that the movie “sucked,” Melissa didn’t hesitate to agree.
“I know.”
She then questioned the reported success of the film.
“And I think they lied about the numbers. I don’t think it made that much money,” she went on to say.
Even after her departure, Melissa says the support from fans hasn’t disappeared. In fact, she’s still reminded nightly how deeply audiences connected with her version of the franchise.
“But at the stage door, I sign Scream things every night. People who love me from those movies are coming to see the show, and they can’t ever take that away from me.”
One of the interview’s most explosive moments came when Melissa was asked about original franchise stars returning for the latest installment following the controversy surrounding her firing and the departure of co-star Jenna Ortega.
“Oh, one hundred percent. I think they all are. And they have to live with that. The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible.”
Returning stars for the upcoming sequel include Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Scott Foley, and David Arquette, alongside newer cast members Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding.
Melissa also opened up about the emotional toll the controversy took on her personally and spiritually.
“When you’re doing something that feels like it’s the right thing to do, and then you’re punished for it, it really f–ks with your head,” she added.
“For me, I was like, ‘Wait — I’m trying to call out something that is severely, severely wrong and evil, and I get punished for it. I get everything taken from me. What is the lesson I’m supposed to learn.’ I was even questioning God: ‘What are You trying to teach me? Because I don’t understand why the ones that are trying to do the right thing are getting punished, and the people that are like la-la-la-la-la continue to rise. I don’t understand this game. What is this?!’ It was a rude awakening.”
The interview is likely to reignite conversation around the franchise and the backlash that followed Melissa’s firing, which became one of Hollywood’s most polarizing entertainment controversies in recent years. And while the actress appears focused on moving forward creatively, it’s clear she still has strong feelings about how everything unfolded.
