Hot on the heels for Melissa Barrera being fired from Scream VII over to vocal support to Palestine and against the Israeli Occupation, Jenna Ortega has now asked her agency to terminate her contract.
There has been no official statement by Ortega as just yet but Spyglass Media, the movie’s production house, said it had nothing to do with the Barrera’s fallout. The American press has cited "scheduling conflicts".
Yesterday, Barrera was dropped by the company stating that they had "zero tolerance for anti-semitism or incitement of hate in any form”. The 33-year old had used her social media platform to express her support for Palestinians, and shared information about the situation in Gaza, describing Israeli forces attacks as genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Hours after dropping Barrera, the Internet had gone on a rampage demanding Ortega should also be dropped since the latter had long expressed her support for Palestine as well.
Ortega's 2022 tweets advocating for various countries in conflict, including Palestine, have stirred controversy in the Hollywood universe. There was even an article published in The Times of Israel earlier this year about her titled "Jennna Ortega vs Kanye: Whose anti-Semitic hate is worse?” Comparing her to Kanye West’s critical comments on the Jews.
"We must never give up on the people of Ukraine, Yemen, Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq, Syria... the list goes on unfortunately. For anyone who is willing & wanting to contribute any way they can, I want to form a thread with information. Does anyone have resources/links they could add?" Ortega had posted this Twitter, asking fans in February 2022.
This included pinning the call-out tweet on her Twitter profile - which has 1 million followers - and listing the charities and groups assisting those in need which includes Syria Relief, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, and Save the Children.
In one tweet, Ortega also promoted decolonising Palestine, an initiative intended to educate the public on the situation in Palestine.
Prior to news of Ortega dropping out, social media user @Captainhorizon7 highlighted the situation, stating, "Wait till they find out Jenna Ortega also supported Palestine and is practically their money maker right now”.
Ortega and Barrera played sisters in 2022’s Scream and this year’s Scream VI respectively as Tara and Sam Carpenter giving the horror franchise’s best opening grosses ever at $44.4M in the US and $67M globally.
Neve Campbell, who played the main character in the film’s 1996 original and remained in all six films since, also will not be returning in the seventh installation. She announced her decision not to reprise her role as Sidney Prescott because she felt "the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise”.
On her exit, Campbell was quoted saying: "It took me a minute, I don’t know why. I actually thought they did a really good job. I think the cast are really powerful, wonderful actors.
"I don’t wish these movies ill will. I wanted the movie to be good. It’s not like I’m sitting in my house going, ‘I hope it sucks, I hope it doesn’t do well.’ I care about all the people involved. There’s someone at the top who only thinks about money and that’s their prerogative. But for the rest of them, everybody else, I care about these movies being good,” she said.
Scream 7 has yet to reveal a release date.