Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo hit back against accusations that his criticism of the Ellison family's proposed Warner Bros. Discovery merger amounted to antisemitism, responding to Paramount in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest," Ruffalo said Saturday.
"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. This critical and necessary dialogue is then dishonestly framed as being 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. 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," he added.
The Marvel actor's remarks came after a Paramount spokesperson accused Ruffalo of injecting "antisemitic tropes" into what it described as a corporate dispute. The accusation came after Ruffalo reposted video remarks of Paramount board member Safra Catz appearing to tout the "really profoundly scary technologies" the Larry Ellison co-founded company Oracle used to assist the Israeli military following the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.
Ruffalo wrote of Oracle, "This is the company that Larry Ellison is using to fund his son David's Warner Bros acquisition."
"These 'really profoundly scary technologies' will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you. Look how she revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle," he added in part.
A spokesperson for Paramount fired back, writing, "[The company is] troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute," according to Variety.
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"Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong — they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe."
The spokesperson added that the company does not "tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone."
The Marvel actor's response to the company on Saturday went on to discuss the "real consequences" of the merger, both for the people who would feel its immediate effects as well as the country at-large.
"Scrutinizing the Ellisons, including Oracle’s business built on data, surveillance technology and government contracts, and the serious threat to editorial freedom and the loss of a livelihood for thousands of families, is fair and necessary," he said.
"The $111 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. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for serious national security review, and regulators still haven’t given the public a real answer. Until they do, the merger shouldn’t move forward. Now is the time to dive boldly into all these issues, not step back or concede."
The potential merger at the center of the dispute is being challenged by a coalition of 12 state attorneys general, and the companies have agreed not to close the deal until June 1, 2027, or until after a court decision on the states' claims, whichever comes first.
