What you need to know:
Things are still going so well for Melissa Barrera in Hollywood that her agency considered stopping working with her. Here’s why.
Recently, Things have gotten pretty complicated with Melissa Barrera. Even though he continues to rock in Hollywood and has projects like… Abigail (along with Giancarlo Esposito and the late Angus Cloud) is still struggling in the film industry. And the clear example is what happened between her and her artistic representation agency..
In November 2023 we told you this Spyglass Media, the producer of Screamfired the Mexican actress over several posts she made on social networks about the conflict in the Middle East, with a stance in favor of Palestine. In your comments, Melissa accused Israel of “genocide and ethnic cleansing” and accused Israel of “distorting the Holocaust to boost its defense industry.”
Melissa Barrera voiced her opinion on Israel-Hamas conflict (and was fired from ‘Scream’)
By the time, Spyglass mentioned that they had terminated Melissa Barrera’s contract Because they have “Zero tolerance for anti-Semitism or hate speech in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, distortions of the Holocaust, or anything that blatantly crosses the line into hate speech.”. Yes, that was his reason for doing it
But that wasn’t the end of it Melissa didn’t stay silent.. After his release from the seventh installment of ScreamHe explained this on his Instagram account condemns anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, but also hatred and prejudice of any kind against any group of people. In a few words he made it clear that he had no regrets at all (you can read his full statements here).
Although his comments have angered many in Hollywood and other areas of the United States, Melissa Barrera continued to express her opinion on the conflict in the Middle East and the situation between Israel and Hamas. The perfect example is that during this year’s Sundance Film Festival The Mexican actress said the controversial sentence “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during a protest with 100 activists.
Things spiraled out of control when the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee took this as an anti-Semitic slogan and saw it as a threat to Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish state. The WME and Sugar23 (the agencies that represent Barrera in Hollywood) was aware of her tendency to make inflammatory remarks, but continued to represent the actress even when customers and employees of the companies complained..
The Mexican actress’s support for agencies accused of supporting Hamas
However, the situation escalated so much that loud diversity, The agencies considered terminating her contract with Melissa Barrera. It turns out that the former protagonist of Scream, posted a link in his Instagram bio instructing his followers to donate money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) to help “all the martyrs of Gaza and the West Bank.”
And what does that mean? Well, once again, The statement was considered particularly inflammatory because Barrera posted the link a day after President Joe Biden’s administration and several countries cut off aid to the organization. after several allegations that They link twelve company employees who were directly involved in the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, including two who were involved in kidnappings.
To give you an idea of how serious Melissa Barrera’s invitation was, Ten percent of the agency’s staff in Gaza reportedly allege ties to Hamas and another militant Islamist group which has been classified as a terrorist organization by the USA. On January 28, the neighboring country announced its decision to freeze all of the group’s money, and since then Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Japan, Austria and Romania have joined.
Given all this, Barrera didn’t stop with his arms crossed as he said the following on his Instagram account: “I think it always depends on the people. I did a fundraiser with UNRWA. Donate what you can and share it so it can be given back to you tenfold.” However, It seems that Melissa is aware of the uproar her posts have caused, because on the 31st she wrote in the same medium: “Apparently some people are angry that I’m sharing this fundraiser.” She did not respond to a request for comment.”
Melissa Barrera’s agency considered no longer representing her, but in the end it failed
Melissa Barrera’s publications quickly spread throughout the entertainment industry and according to a report from Variety, Within WME, they consulted with outside consultants about how best to fire her, as such a separation could provoke a violent reaction. According to sources within the agency and management company Sugar23, They were about to leave the actress as a customer. But on Thursday, January 1st, Both decided to change course for the time being, but did not want to comment on it.
As we have already mentioned, Melissa has a project called “ Abigaila horror film from Universal Pictures. It is currently unclear whether the studio will feature her in the marketing campaign and press releases. However, It seems that perception of Barrera in Hollywood has calmed down somewhat, as he even increased his social media following after asking for donations for UNRWA. We’ll see how this all ends, but first of all, the fact that they were thinking about firing her is very bleak, don’t you think?