Melissa Barrera has been watching the Macklemore fallout closely, and it clearly hit close to home.

Speaking to the Associated Press, the actress said it was "so beautiful" to see Finneas and the rest of Ed Sheeran's opening lineup walk off the Loop Tour after Macklemore was dropped for his pro-Palestine comments. "It made me emotional," she said. "I didn't get that when it happened to me. I didn't have any of that happen. It was too soon. People were too scared."

The comparison isn't subtle. In November 2023, Spyglass fired Barrera from the Scream franchise over social media posts she made during the Israel-Hamas war, including one Instagram Story calling Gaza's conditions "THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING." The studio said at the time it had "zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form," language that echoed almost word for word in its statement on her exit.

What followed was a slow unravelling of Scream 7. Jenna Ortega left soon after, later saying the sequel "was all kind of falling apart" without Barrera's Sam Carpenter. Director Christopher Landon exited too, citing death threats aimed at his kids. Neve Campbell eventually came back to reprise Sidney Prescott, with franchise creator Kevin Williamson stepping in to direct. When Scream 7 finally premiered at Paramount this past February, protesters carrying "Free Palestine" signs showed up outside the gates.

A three-year gap in solidarity

Macklemore's situation moved faster and louder. He was pulled from Sheeran's Loop Tour after saying "Free Palestine" during shows at MetLife Stadium on September 4 and 5. Sheeran said publicly that the call came from the tour's promoter, not from him, and mentioned he'd spoken with Robert Kraft ahead of an upcoming Gillette Stadium date. Macklemore, in his own statement, claimed Kraft had pushed other stadium owners into an ultimatum, that he'd be barred from their venues if Macklemore stayed on the bill. Neither Sheeran nor Kraft has confirmed that account in detail, and it remains Macklemore's version of events. What isn't in dispute is what happened next. Finneas, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe all pulled out of the tour in solidarity.

Barrera thinks the reaction says something bigger. "When someone is attacked, and there are people behind being like, 'We're not gonna allow this,' the more that happens, the less that people in power are going to try to censor it," she told the AP. She said she wonders what would've happened if Sheeran had refused to let Macklemore go, and suggested the venues would have blinked first.

Sheeran plays his first show since the controversy broke on Saturday night in Philadelphia. Whether the tour's remaining stops turn into more flashpoints, or quietly move on, is the thing to watch next.