Jenna Ortega has broken her silence and revealed the real reason she exited the "Scream" franchise.
The actor dropped out of "Scream 7" in November, a day after her co-star Melissa Barrera was fired from the horror movie franchise due to comments she made on social media about the Israel-Hamas conflict. At the time, it was widely reported that Ortega's decision was due to scheduling clashes with the filming of the second season of her popular Netflix show, "Wednesday."
However, in a new interview with The Cut, Ortega shared that her exit had "nothing to do with pay or scheduling."
"The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart," she said. "If 'Scream 7' wasn't going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn't seem like the right move for me in my career at the time."
Ortega's reference to the "Melissa stuff" seemingly confirmed what many suspected, that she was leaving the franchise out of support for Barrera.
Barrera was removed from the cast of "Scream 7" following social media posts in which she voiced support for Palestine and accused Israel of committing "genocide and ethnic cleansing."
In a statement to Variety, a spokesperson for Spyglass said the studio 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."
Director Christopher Landon later shared — then deleted — a message on X, stating: "Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make."
Roughly a month later, Landon officially stepped away from "Scream 7," writing on social media: "It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it's time to move on."
The "Scream" franchise has since moved forward, with original screenwriter Kevin Williamson taking the director's chair for the seventh installment. The upcoming film is set to mark the return of longtime fan favorite Neve Campbell.