Matthew Lillard ‘ashamed’ he starred in Scream 7 after Melissa Barrera was fired over Palestine comments
Matthew Lillard says he’s “ashamed” he returned to the Scream franchise after star Melissa Barrera was fired. (Getty)
Matthew Lillard says he’s “ashamed” and “embarrassed” that he starred in Scream 7 after Melissa Barrera was fired from the film over comments she made about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Lillard, 56, reprised his role as Stu Macher from the original 1996 slasher film Scream in last year’s horror sequel, after the film was thrown into turmoil after Barrera’s firing in 2023.
During a Q&A on Tuesday night (15 September) to mark Scream‘s 30th anniversary, Lillard was asked by a fan about the difficulty of speaking out on political issues as a celebrity, Entertainment Weekly reports.
“I don’t know how else to do it,” Lillard replied. “For me, I have queer kids. If I’m not standing up for queer kids or kids in the trans community, then what the f*** am I doing? If I’m not standing up against ICE, then what the f*** am I doing?”
Admitting it’s not always “easy” for celebrities to speak out on political issues, the Scooby-Doo actor cited the case of Barrera, who starred in Scream‘s 2022 reboot and sequel Scream VI before being dropped from Scream 7 over her comments about Israel’s actions in Palestine – comments that film production company Spyglass denounced as “hate speech”.
On Instagram, Barrera had shared support for an immediate ceasefire, images and videos of the destruction in Gaza, and labelled ongoing military action in Palestine as “genocide and ethnic cleansing”. She also reshared a magazine article alleging that the Israeli government was distorting “the Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry.”
“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 f****** bull**** and really hard and she’s on the right side of history.”
He continued: “When that happened to Melissa, the whole world didn’t pipe up. But she was a year early on what the f***’s going on. But the whole world should have popped up and said, ‘She’s right.’ And they didn’t. And that’s brutal.”
Lillard went on: “I went back to do Scream, and I got called out. And I’m like, ‘Oh, f***. That’s brutal,’” he shared. “I feel bad about that. I feel ashamed about that. Because in that moment I was so excited to go back, I didn’t really think about Melissa and that journey. I didn’t say no.”
The actor added: “I’m embarrassed, that’s the truth… I blew that. I’m on the wrong side of history for that. I still like being in the movie [but] it may not have been the best idea.”
In a statement after Barrera’s firing, Spyglass issued a statement stating the company had “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.”
