Mark Ruffalo addressed Paramount after the production studio accused him of promoting antisemitic tropes in his online criticism of its proposed $110 billion merger with Warner Bros.
The dispute traces back to Friday, when Ruffalo shared in a since-expired Instagram Story a video of former Oracle executive vice chair Safra Catz speaking at an Israeli-American Council summit about technologies Oracle made available to the Israeli military following the October 7 Hamas attacks.
In caption text accompanying the video, Ruffalo called Larry Ellison "a classic Oligarch" and called the merger “illegal.”
After a rep for Paramount stated that the company was “troubled” when “antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” Ruffalo responded to deny the company’s claims.
"The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest," the Crime 101 actor said in a statement to The New York Post. "Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people."
Ruffalo went on to push back on what he described as a intentional positioning of his criticism as anti-Israel. "To be clear, my views come from my own political convictions and should never be interpreted as hostility toward Jewish people, for whom I have deep love and respect,” he continued. “Everything I know about acting, activism, and humanism has been profoundly shaped by the Jewish friends, colleagues, and loved ones who have been integral and family throughout every point of my life."
Ruffalo argued that his criticism of Oracle chairman Larry Ellison and the deal's structure was entirely reasonable, claiming that the business was “built on data, surveillance technology and government contracts.” The entertainer called the company “a serious threat to editorial freedom and the loss of a livelihood for thousands of families, is fair and necessary,” per Variety.
"The $110 billion deal would hand one family control over CNN, HBO and Warner Bros., backed in part by foreign money whose influence on editorial decisions has never been fully explained to the public."
Ruffalo isn’t alone in his stance; twelve state Attorneys General, including those from California, New York, and Massachusetts, have filed an antitrust lawsuit arguing the acquisition would violate the Clayton Antitrust Act. Paramount and California Attorney General Rob Bonta have a settlement meeting scheduled for Monday, August 24, per CNBC.
