Matthew Lillard says heās āashamedā he returned to the Scream franchise after star Melissa Barrera was fired. (Getty)
Matthew Lillard says heās āashamedā and āembarrassedā 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 yearās horror sequel, after the film was thrown into turmoil after Barreraās firing in 2023.
During a Q&A on Tuesday night (15 September) to mark Screamās 30th anniversary, Lillard was asked by a fan about the difficulty of speaking out on political issues as a celebrity, Entertainment Weekly reports.
āI donāt know how else to do it,ā Lillard replied. āFor me, I have queer kids. If Iām not standing up for queer kids or kids in the trans community, then what the f*** am I doing? If Iām not standing up against ICE, then what the f*** am I doing?ā
Admitting itās not always āeasyā for celebrities to speak out on political issues, the Scooby-Doo actor cited the case of Barrera, who starred in Screamās 2022 reboot and sequel Scream VI before being dropped from Scream 7 over her comments about Israelās actions in Palestine ā comments that film production company Spyglass denounced as āhate speechā.
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 āgenocide and ethnic cleansingā. She also reshared a magazine article alleging that the Israeli government was distorting āthe Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry.ā
āMelissa Barrera, whoās a beautiful actor, was fired for what she said after the whole Palestinian ā what started happening in Israel,ā Lillard said. āItās really f****** bull**** and really hard and sheās on the right side of history.ā
He continued: āWhen that happened to Melissa, the whole world didnāt pipe up. But she was a year early on what the f***ās going on. But the whole world should have popped up and said, āSheās right.ā And they didnāt. And thatās brutal.ā
Lillard went on: āI went back to doĀ Scream, and I got called out. And Iām like, āOh, f***. Thatās brutal,āā he shared. āI feel bad about that. I feel ashamed about that. Because in that moment I was so excited to go back, I didnāt really think about Melissa and that journey. I didnāt say no.ā
The actor added: āIām embarrassed, thatās the truthā¦ I blew that. Iām on the wrong side of history for that. I still like being in the movie [but] it may not have been the best idea.ā
In a statement after Barreraās firing, Spyglass issued a statement stating the company had āzero 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.ā
