Matthew Lillard has revealed that he feels “shame” about his decision to star in Scream 7 after Melissa Barrera was fired from the horror franchise over her stance on Palestine, saying he was “on the wrong side of history”. The actor reprised his role as original Ghostface Stu Macher in the seventh entry after the movie went through a huge creative overhaul, returning alongside Neve Campbell and David Arquette. Originally, Scream 7 was going to centre on the Carpenter sisters, played by Barrera and Jenna Ortega, following on from the events of the sixth film. But in November 2023, Barrera was fired over posts supporting Palestine and criticising the Israeli government. The film’s production company, Spyglass Media Group, claimed her comments were interpreted as antisemitic. There was a huge backlash to the decision at the time, with more than 1,300 creatives signing a letter shared by Artists For Palestine UK criticising the string of firings of performers who had spoken in support of Palestine – including Barrera’s. Shortly after, Ortega departed the project, as did director Christopher Landon. Then the Scream 7 that landed in cinemas earlier this year started to take shape. Lillard has clearly had some second thoughts about his decision to return, as he expressed during a Q&A at Scream’s 30th anniversary screening in Austin on Tuesday. Why is he only speaking out now? There are a few reasons Lillard addressed the situation. The topic turned political when someone in the audience asked about the difficulty of speaking out on these issues as an actor. Lillard also highlighted the recent Ed Sheeran controversy and said he’s been called out about the Scream 7 controversy in recent months. @cocteautriplets He took accountability and had an uncomfortable conversation #edsheeran #matthewlillard #scream #scarymovie ♬ original sound – 🦋 TikTok user @cocteautriplets shared a clip of the interaction, with one person shouting, “F**k ICE,” after the political question. Lillard replied, “What a great question,” before saying, “Look at what’s going on with Ed Sheeran.” For context, Sheeran has faced backlash this week after Macklemore was dropped from his US tour following the rapper’s pro-Palestine comments on stage. “I don’t know what else to do,” Lillard continued. “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**k am I doing? If I’m not standing up against ICE, [then what am I doing?]” The actor said it’s not easy all the time, before turning attention to Scream 7: “Melissa Barrera, who’s a beautiful actor, was fired for what she said after the whole Palestinian – what started happening in Israel. “It’s really f**king bullsh*t and really hard, and she’s on the right side of history. And when they start coming after your job, sometimes things are worth it, right? “But I’m just going to say, when that happened to Melissa, the whole world didn’t pipe up. But she was a year early on ‘what the f**k’s going on?’” Lillard said the “whole world should’ve popped up and said that she’s right,” but they didn’t. “And then I went back to do Scream, and I got called out, and I’m like, ‘Oh, f**k. That’s brutal,’” he explained. Credit: Paramount Pictures “I feel bad about that. I feel shame about that, because in that moment, I was so excited to go back. I didn’t really think about Melissa and the journey, and I didn’t say no. I’m embarrassed. That’s the truth.” “There’s other things that for me were easy,” he said. “I blew that. I’m on the wrong side of history for that.” Although many fans still don’t support his original decision, Lilliard has received plenty of praise for taking accountability now. “He clearly wanted to get this off his chest… he shouldn’t have done the movie,” said one. Another wrote, “I was so mad that he agreed to return to scream after what happened with Melissa, but so glad to hear him acknowledging and taking accountability.” A third added, “Wish he hadn’t done Scream 7 but also really glad he said this.” For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page. Featured image credit: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock/Paramount Pictures Post navigation Next storyPrevious story
