Matthew Lillard Says He's "Embarrassed" About "Scream 7" Return After Melissa Barrera Firing

Matthew Lillard just said the quiet part out loud. At a“Scream”30th anniversary screening Q&A on Tuesday, the actor admitted he felt“embarrassed”and“ashamed”for returning to the franchise in“Scream 7”after Melissa Barrera was fired in 2023.“I blew that,”Lillard said.“I’m on the wrong side of history for that.”He added that Barrera is“on the right side of history,”and that when it happened to her,“the whole world didn’t pipe up.”

Barrera was dropped from the franchise over social media posts about the Israel-Hamas conflict, which Spyglass called antisemitic. In a May interview with Variety, she called the returning actors“scabby,”and described going through“10 torturous months of uncertainty, and no work, and suffering.”Since then she’s bounced back strong, including a run on Broadway. The“Scream”cast, meanwhile, has mostly stayed quiet about the whole thing. Until this week.

So what do we do with a regret that shows up two years late? Lillard isn’t asking for a pass, and he’s not blaming anyone but himself. But Barrera’s point about silence in the moment still stands. Where do you land on this one? Is a public admission worth something even when it comes late? We want to hear it.