Hollywood Purge: Melissa Barrera Fired from ‘Scream’ for Criticizing Israel, Susan Sarandon Dropped by UTA
Chris Menahan
Actress Melissa Barrera, the star of the “Scream” movie franchise, was fired by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum’s Spyglass Media Group for “floating an antisemitic trope that Jews control the media” by claiming that “Western media only shows the [Israeli] side” of the war.
Variety reports that Melissa Barrera was fired from the ‘Scream’ franchise after “floating an antisemitic trope that Jews control the media” in an Instagram story:
“Western media only shows the other side. Why they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.” pic.twitter.com/XKubGxSASF
— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 21, 2023
Melissa Barrera’s post on social media after being dropped from ‘Scream’ for denouncing the genocide in Gaza:
“At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude.” pic.twitter.com/4YDK8dW7eX
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) November 21, 2023
Spyglass quietly dropped Melissa Barrera as the star of the next “Scream” film, sources say, due to her social media posts that referred to Israel as a “colonized” land and floated an antisemitic trope that Jews control the media, writing: “Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.”
They sure proved her wrong!
Susan Sarandon was also dropped by United Talent Agency for speaking out against Israel.
Talent agency UTA has reportedly dropped Susan Sarandon as a client for showing support for Palestine.
(https://t.co/ASTcpCoZms) pic.twitter.com/oOeiGPIrSS
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) November 21, 2023
American actress Susan Sarandon delivers a speech before hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters in New York. Queen! 👑💜 @SusanSarandon pic.twitter.com/nSadgGB88L
— Zaina 🇵🇸 (@ZainaArekat) November 14, 2023
Variety has more on the freak-out that’s going on in Hollywood right now:
Four days after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel, WME invited Steve Leder, the rabbi from Wilshire Boulevard Temple, to visit the agency’s Beverly Hills headquarters. He came to provide comfort for employees reeling after the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Although the event was not mandatory and Leder’s speech was considered secular, several staffers voiced complaints, which made their way to WME co-chairmen Richard Weitz and Christian Muirhead. Instead of caving, WME invited Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt to speak to the agency on Nov. 1. Greenblatt didn’t mince words, according to those in attendance, calling out the Writers Guild of America for refusing to issue a statement after the Hamas attacks.
Across town, the agency’s fiercest rival, CAA, was dealing with a crisis. Maha Dakhil, one of its top agents, had ignited a firestorm with her Instagram posts, including one that said, “What’s more heartbreaking than witnessing genocide? Witnessing the denial that genocide is happening.” In response, Dakhil was relieved of her duties as co-chief the motion pictures department, though she was allowed to remain an agent. It didn’t hurt that her most important client, Tom Cruise, made it known to CAA that he was backing her. Cruise met with Dakhil at her CAA office on Nov. 15. A knowledgeable source says he took the rare step of going in person to show support for his embattled agent.
But the Dakhil issue didn’t end there. A group of CAA assistants threatened to walk out over the agency’s treatment of her, sources say. They believed she was being railroaded by management but ultimately abandoned their threat. At the same time, some of the agents who complained internally about Dakhil’s posts felt disillusioned, believing she should have been fired. Separately, CAA cut ties with a staffer and two clients over incendiary anti-Israeli social media posts.
Similar instances of firings, finger-pointing and feelings of betrayal are playing out across Hollywood as the industry wrestles with the raw emotions aroused by the eruption of violence in the Middle East.
[…] “There’s just no excuse for not condemning Hamas and demanding the release of the hostages. Hollywood was quick to declare Black Lives Matter, as they should, and Time’s Up, as they should, and myriad other important causes,” Greenblatt tells Variety. “There’s plenty of room for criticism of Israel or to voice concerns about the ongoing war in Gaza, but that doesn’t provide celebrities and industry reps with an open license to wage unfair accusations against Israel, such as accusing it of ‘apartheid’ or ‘genocide’ or, worse, to celebrate the actions of Hamas terrorists.”
The firing of Barrera actually shows there’s zero room for any criticism of Israel whatsoever.
Creative Artists Agency, who represented anti-white activists Saira Rao and Regina Jackson for their lectures on “white privilege,” dropped both for “denouncing Israel’s genocide in Palestine.”
CAA has dropped entrepreneurs, Saira Rao & Regina Jackson, for denouncing Israel’s genocide in Palestine.
This comes after the talent agency’s former co-chief of motion pictures, Maha Dakhil, “stepped away” from her leadership roles following her vocal support for Palestine. pic.twitter.com/7JjrAXzeUo
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) November 15, 2023
From Variety:
CAA, too, has been more willing to cut ties over problematic social media missives. The agency fired assistant Jouman (Jasmine) Barakat over her posts that called all Israelis white supremacists and mocked a post from the country’s official handle that stated, “Even Israelis Deserve to Live” by calling it a “fascist regime.”
CAA also dropped Saira Rao and Regina Jackson — who co-wrote the 2022 book “White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better” — over their social media posts. Rao had written on X, “Zionists are starting to panic that more and more of the world sees them for the bloodthirsty genocidal ghouls they are.”
Rao tells Variety that Hollywood is “punishing people of color for speaking out.” She adds, “It’s disgusting. The genocide is indisputable. You can watch it on live TV. CAA will be on the wrong side of history. And shame on CAA for doing that to Maha.” A CAA spokesperson says Rao was not dropped for supporting Palestinians but for posts deemed antisemitic.
They were fine paying these people to bash whitey but as soon as they criticized Jews and Israel they lost their jobs.
What did Elon Musk say again about Jews pushing hatred against whites?
You have said the actual truth
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2023
