‘Appalling’: Mark Ruffalo denies antisemitism charge from Paramount Skydance over merger criticism

U.S. news‘Appalling’: Mark Ruffalo denies antisemitism charge from Paramount Skydance over merger criticismThe actor fired back at Paramount’s response to his criticisms of the company’s planned merger with rival Warner Bros.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00Ruffalo urged his followers to push back against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, arguing it would be “catastrophic for our film industry.”Getty Images fileShareAdd to GoogleAug. 23, 2026, 1:49 PM EDTBy Angela YangMark Ruffalo is pushing back against Paramount Skydance after the media giant characterized his anti-merger comments as antisemitic. Ruffalo called the accusation “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”“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 wrote in an X post Saturday. “This critical and necessary dialogue is then dishonestly framed as being anti-Israel.”The dispute traces back to a social media post from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement — a Palestinian-led campaign opposing Israel’s occupation, which began in 1967 — that Ruffalo had boosted.The post featured comments from Oracle executive vice chair Safra Catz describing the company’s assistance to Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack.Catz said Oracle undertook efforts it couldn’t fully discuss to support the Israeli military, alluding to advanced technology the company made available for that purpose.BDS captioned the clip by accusing Oracle of being “complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity — including apartheid and genocide against Palestinians.”Ruffalo reshared the post to his Instagram story Friday, taking aim at Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison — who backed his son David Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount Global through Skydance Media. Ruffalo argued that Larry Ellison is “using [Oracle] to fund his son David’s Warner Bros acquisition.”“These ‘really p...