Olivia Colman leads 1,300 artists slamming Scream 7 star's firing as censorship
A collective of 1,300 artists have signed an open letter accusing cultural institutions across Western countries of "repressing, silencing and stigmatising Palestinian voices and perspectives".
Famous faces signed the letter on Thursday [30 November] include Oscar winner Olivia Colman, Olivier Award winners Harriet Walter and Juliet Stevenson, BAFTA winning Sex Education actress Aimee Lou Wood, The Crown actress Amir El-Masry and Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan.
Artists for Palestine UK published the letter addressing the Arts and Culture Sector urging them to "uphold the right to freedom of expression and to uphold their commitment to anti-discrimination", following actress Melissa Barrera being fired from Scream 7 after expressing solidarity with Palestinian people on her personal social media channels.
Both Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega exited the Scream franchise last week
Barbie actress Nicola Coughlan is one of the 1,300 artists to slam the firing as 'censorship' (Stuart Hardy/ABACAPRESS.COM/REX/Shutterstock)Last month, Barrera, 33, was dropped from the iconic horror franchise after Scream 7's production company, Spyglass Media, claimed the star’s Instagram posts about the Israel-Hamas war crossed "the line into hate speech". Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega, who has also expressed solidarity with Palestine, ended her involvement with the upcoming Scream instalment shortly after Barrera was fired.
The letter by Artists for Palestine UK claims Western countries are "repressing, silencing and stigmatising Palestinian voices and perspectives", which they say includes "targeting and threatening the livelihoods of artists and arts workers who express solidarity with Palestinians, as well as cancelling performances, screenings, talks, exhibitions and book launches."
Olivia Colman unrecognisable with yellowing teeth and white hair in new role
"Despite this pressure, artists in their thousands are following their conscience and continuing to speak out. Freedom of expression, as enshrined in the Human Rights Act and the European Convention of Human Rights is the backbone of our creative lives, and fundamental to democracy," the letter notes.
In addition to Barrero's forced exit from the Scream franchise, Artists for Palestine UK cites other examples of censorship, including Lisson Gallery’s ‘postponement’ of a London exhibition by Ai Weiwei; Folkwang Museum in Essen’s last minute cancellation of curator Anais Duplan’s Afrofuturism exhibition, and the Saarland Museum’s cancellation of a solo exhibition of artist Candice Brietz, both in Germany.
In each case, the institution attributed the cancellation to comments made by the artist in support of Palestinian rights and unrelated to the content of their professional work.
"Members of Israel’s far-right government are openly calling for ethnic cleansing," an extract of the letter reads. "The use of starvation as a weapon of war, along with denial of water and electricity, is cruel beyond words. The wholesale destruction of civilian infrastructure, the bombing of hospitals, schools, churches and mosques, the killing of 14,500 people in a matter of weeks, amount to a policy of collective punishment against the Palestinian people.
"The United Nations and hundreds of legal scholars have called on the international community to prevent genocide. As artists, we cannot remain silent in the face of such egregious violations of international humanitarian law. While catastrophe unfolds, we have observed a glaring absence of statements of solidarity with Palestinian people from most UK arts organisations.
"We find it deeply troubling and, frankly, indicative of a disturbing double standard that expressions of solidarity, which have been readily offered to other peoples facing brutal oppression, have not been extended to Palestinians. Such a discrepancy raises serious questions about bias in the response to grave human rights violations."
Additional artists among the 1,300 people to sign the letter also include; Ghost actress Lolly Adefope, Enola Holmes star Susanne Wokoma, film director Ken Loach, I May Destroy You star Paapa Essiedu, BAFTA winner Siobhán McSweeney and Napoleon star Youseff Kerkour.
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