Melissa Barrera Says Ed Sheeran Could Have Rebooked His Shows and “People Would Have Rallied Behind Him”

Melissa Barrera was fired from the Scream franchise in 2023 over social media posts criticizing Israel and praising Ed Sheeran’s decision to remove himself from the U.S. leg of his Loop Tour after Macklemore declared Palestine free, saying it was “beautiful” to see other artists support him.

“It’s so beautiful to see Finneas, the band and all the supporting acts pulling out in support of Macklemore; it made me emotional,” Barrera said in the AP Entertainment interview. “I didn’t get that when it happened to me. It was too soon, and people were too scared, but it’s good to see that almost three years later, at least, things have changed.”

Ben Haggerty, aka Macklemore, was removed from the tour of British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran after stating “Free Palestine” and giving a political speech at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The Grammy Award-winning artist said that Gaza and the Occupied West Bank needed to know that they haven’t been forgotten. On September 14th, the rapper was pulled out of the tour.

According to Macklemore, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft called Sheeran and threatened to cancel the tour if he kept playing.

The U.S. promoter of the tour, Messina Touring Group, said venues refused to host a show with Macklemore in the lineup, and that it would have caused numerous cancellations affecting hundreds of thousands of concertgoers.

But according to Sheeran, he didn’t make the call. He admitted the promoter decided to drop Macklemore after pressure from venues, and that he tried to make it work for a week but failed.

Within a couple of hours of Sheeran’s message, four supporting acts announced their withdrawal from the tour in protest: Irish singer Aaron Rowe, the Irish band Beoga, the Danish group Lukas Graham, and Finneas. Beoga had performed several songs alongside Sheeran during the mid-show set. In contrast, Finneas, aka Billie Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator, was set to open for Sheeran in South America later this year.

In their declarations of leaving the tour, Finneas said artists must not be silenced when they raise their voices for the oppressed. The departure of the four acts left Sheeran’s tour without any supporting acts.

Barrera stated in the interview with AP Entertainment that such solidarity could shift the balance of power.

“When someone is attacked, there’s people behind being like, ‘We’re not going to allow this,'” she said. “The more that happens, the less people in power are going to censor it because it’s not going to work.”

She also wonders what would have happened if Sheeran hadn’t backed down.

“I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Ed Sheeran had been like, ‘no’ and called the bluff,” Barrera said. “His shows would’ve been canceled, but I bet you he could rebook those shows in other venues just as easily, and people would have rallied behind him.”

Barrera starred in 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream VI before Spyglass terminated her contract. Then, the producer cited zero tolerance for antisemitism and hate speech, including references to genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Her former castmate Matthew Lillard expressed regret for his actions regarding the franchise in recent statements. According to NBC News, Lillard apologized to his fans at the anniversary screening of the original Scream movie in Austin, Texas, and said he was on the wrong side of history for filming Scream 7 after Barrera’s termination, and that she was on the right side of history.

Barrera stated that she was optimistic about how things would unfold after that.

“What we’re witnessing is going to inspire change, and I’m very hopeful about that,” she said.