Melissa Barrera Says Support for Macklemore Is ‘Beautiful’ and ‘I Didn’t Get That’ After Scream Firing

Melissa Barrera is drawing a direct line between the industry support now surrounding Macklemore and the silence that met her own firing from the Scream franchise nearly three years ago. In an interview with the Associated Press, Barrera said seeing Ed Sheeran's opening acts pull out of his Loop Tour in solidarity with Macklemore "made me emotional." She added, "I didn't get that when it happened to me. I didn't have any of that happen. It was too soon. People were too scared. But it's good to see that almost three years later, at least things have changed."

Barrera was dropped from Scream VII in 2023 after posting Instagram Stories criticizing Israel's military campaign in Gaza. One post read, "Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp," and another described the situation as "genocide and ethnic cleansing." Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the franchise, said at the time it has "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."

The Macklemore episode began in early September, when the rapper voiced support for Palestine during his opening slots on Sheeran's tour. He performed a song dedicated to pro-Palestinian protesters and referred to "genocide" in Gaza, a description Israel rejects. After stadium owners, including Robert Kraft of Gillette Stadium, threatened to cancel shows, promoter Messina Touring Group removed Macklemore from the tour. Sheeran later said the decision was the promoter's, not his own.

Several opening acts then quit in solidarity. Finneas, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe all exited the tour. Barrera pointed to that response as evidence of a shifting climate. "When someone is attacked, and there are people behind being like, 'We're not gonna allow this,' and the more that happens, the less that the people in power are going to try to censor it, because eventually it's not gonna work," she told the AP.

Barrera also questioned whether Sheeran could have resisted the pressure. "I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Ed Sheeran had been like, 'No,' and called the bluff," she said. "I mean, it's possible that he still would have had his shows canceled, but I bet you that he could have rebooked those shows in other venues just as easily, and people would have rallied behind him."

Sheeran addressed the controversy from the stage in Philadelphia on Saturday night, his first concert since Macklemore's removal. He described the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks as "horrific" and called the situation in Gaza "catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate." He also said he took issue with venues "preapproving" content or performers, drawing applause from the crowd.

For Barrera, the response to Macklemore marks a meaningful shift from the isolation she experienced. "I wish that the people that have power understood the power that they have," she said. "I think that the problem is that there's a lot of people that actually have a lot of power; they think that they don't, and they're operating out of fear, and it's just a shame because, you know, we just saw what happened — the support that rallied behind Macklemore — and I think that's a big step."