Who owns Spyglass Entertainment? CEO management explored as company faces boycott over Melissa Barrera firing 

Spyglass Entertainment, the film and television production company founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, recently came under fire after they laid off Scream VII actress Melissa Barrera over her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.

As per People, Gary Barber is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Spyglass Media Group, LLC. The company fired the Mexican actress on Tuesday, November 21, because of “her Instagram stories, which have been perceived as anti-Semitic.” However, people believe the decision was made due to her showing support for the Palestinian cause, as per The New York Times.

Some netizens were outraged about the sudden ousting of Barrera as she played Sam Carpenter in the fifth and sixth Scream movies. As per NME, the fans have vowed to boycott Scream VII.

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Scream fans vow to boycott Spyglass after Melissa Barrera gets fired from the sequel

Spyglass Media Group, LLC, formerly Spyglass Entertainment, is getting heavily criticized after they fired Mexican actress Melissa Berrara from being a part of more movies in the Scream franchise after Scream VI. She has been posting Pro-Palestinian quotes and pictures online since last month on her Instagram. She once wrote,

"I too come from a colonized country [beside a Mexican flag logo]. Palestine WILL be free. They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds."

Melissa has starred in the 2022 Scream movie and 2023 Scream VI. According to The New York Post, in a separate post on the actress's Instagram, she added,

"Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING."

The production company Spyglass has claimed that the actress's comments about Palestine and Israel were antisemitic. As per Variety, the company said,

"Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have 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."

Spyglass has two co-chairman and CEOs, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum. They have the same designations in the holding company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which had at that time recently emerged from bankruptcy, as per Bloomberg.

Barber was born in 1957 to a Jewish family in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Rojeris is also from a Jewish family in Teaneck, New Jersey. He is the son of Arlene and Norman Birnbaum, as per The New York Times.

Fans have speculated that the reason Melissa Berarra is getting labeled antisemitic and removed from the Scream franchise is because Spyglass is owned by two Jewish people, according to Time. They have started trending hashtags about Melissa's Scream role and have vowed to boycott the production company.

On October 27, 2023, the actress had also spoken against antisemitism, saying,

"It is important for me to clarify that when I say Free Palestine. I do not in any way mean: Kill all Jews."

Melissa added that she wanted freedom and safety for Palestinians and Jews around the world.

Melissa allegedly indirectly referred to the news of her termination in her Instagram Stories on Monday, November 20, 2023. As per the New York Times, she said,

"At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude."

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The death toll in Israel since Hamas's initial attack on October 7, 2023, has been about 1,200 people. Over 12,000 civilians have been killed in the Gaza Strip by airstrikes from Israel in the last two months, as per AP News.