Scream Star Heather Matarazzo Says Neve Campbell 'Should Be Paid What She's Worth': 'Get That Bag' (original) (raw)

Heather Matarazzo is speaking out about Neve Campbell's decision to not return for Scream 6 due to pay negotiations.

"I think that if you are the head of a franchise and you are, in part, what cemented said franchise and you have a film that's making hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, that the lead actor that played Sidney Prescott, which is the protagonist of all protagonists, should be paid what she's worth," Matarazzo, 39, said in the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast on Tuesday.

In a clip the actress later reposted on social media, Matarazzo explained why this is a common occurrence. "I think there's this idea that we've been lulled into because that's the way capitalism works in terms of we've been conditioned to be okay with crumbs," she said, "while everyone else gets to eat the full meal and that's not okay."

Matarazzo also said that backlash to Campbell's position would not be as rough if it were a male actor. "Notice that it's always women that get criticized for this, it's not men," she said to host David Yontef. "We're under this guise that 'whatever the man gets, he deserved it' but the second a woman is asking for equity that is similar or equal to she's a f---- problem."

Matarazzo concluded, "it's a double standard and it's one that I don't subscribe to."

"I said what I said," Matarazzo captioned the repost on Twitter, "Nothing but love for #NeveCampbell"

Neve Campbell in Scream. Dimension Films/Kobal/Shutterstock

In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE last month, Campbell said her choice not to sign on to reprise her role as final girl Sidney Prescott for Scream 6 was "truly" just "negotiation" related. "I did not feel that what I was being offered equated to the value that I bring to this franchise, and have brought to this franchise, for 25 years," she told PEOPLE.

"And as a woman in this business, I think it's really important for us to be valued and to fight to be valued," continued Campbell, 48. "I honestly don't believe that if I were a man and had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years, that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man."

"And in my soul, I just couldn't do that," she added. "I couldn't walk on set feeling that — feeling undervalued and feeling the unfairness, or lack of fairness, around that."

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Campbell has appeared as Sidney in all five films since the first, directed by Wes Craven, hit theaters in December 1996. She played a large part in each installment all the way through this year's Scream, which was released in January.

The actress maintained that "it was sad" for her to not return, telling PEOPLE, "I love these movies. I love Sidney. I love this franchise; I'm so grateful for it."

"But at the same time, I really just couldn't bear the idea of walking onto [the sixth film] and feeling undervalued," she noted.