Summary:
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Jenna Ortega leaves ‘Scream 7’ for ‘Wednesday’ Season 2, separate from co-star’s firing due to social media comments.
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Ortega’s departure was planned before SAG-AFTRA began, needing to shoot ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 in Ireland and finish ‘Beetlejuice 2’.
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Barrera fired from ‘Scream 7’ for pro-Palestine posts, sparking controversy; Spyglass Media Group denounces hate speech.
Jenna Ortega is the latest star to leave ‘Scream 7’ due to her shooting schedule with ‘Wednesday‘ Season 2.
What’s Trending confirmed the exit one day after her co-star Melissa Barrera was fired from the horror movie due to her comments on social media about Israel and Palestine.
Ortega’s departure was not influenced by Barerra’s firing and was in the works months before the SAG-AFTRA began.
The star must travel to Ireland from the spring through summer in order to shoot the upcoming season as well. Ortega also needs to wrap filming on Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice 2” which has a few more days to shoot after it was interrupted by the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Ortega recently starred in movie “Finestkind,” is filming “Wednesday” Season 2, leads A24 movie “Death of a Unicorn” alongside Paul Rudd, and is expected to appear in the fifth and final season of “You.” The former child star further deepens her iconic IP horror roots with Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice 2.”
The two starred as sisters Tara and Sam Carpenter in the 2022 revival of the franchise and this year’s sequel “Scream 6.”
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Barrera was fired from the latest film on Tuesday due to her social posts supporting Palestine amid the ongoing conflict with Israel.
“Scream” producer Spyglass Media Group said, “Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: 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.” Barrera had shared a post that accused Israel of “genocide and ethnic cleansing” and one from Jewish Currents magazine about distorting “the Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry.”
After Barrera’s firing, Landon posted and deleted a statement on X on Tuesday that read, “Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”
The 2022 revival of “Scream” brought back original stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette and introduced franchise newcomers Mason Gooding Jr. and Jasmine Savoy Brown. For “Scream 7, Campbell declined to return due to a pay dispute, but directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet expressed hope that she would come back to the series in the future.
The movie ended on a happy note for Ortega and Barrera’s characters, who beat the Ghostface killer once again and repaired their relationship.
The star is currently repped by CAA and has not issued an official statement.
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