{"id":4353,"date":"2026-08-23T19:36:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T19:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4353"},"modified":"2026-08-23T19:36:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T19:36:01","slug":"appalling-mark-ruffalo-denies-antisemitism-charge-from-paramount-skydance-over-merger-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4353","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Appalling\u2019: Mark Ruffalo denies antisemitism charge from Paramount Skydance over merger criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mark Ruffalo is pushing back against Paramount Skydance after the media giant characterized his anti-merger comments as antisemitic. Ruffalo called the accusation \u201cappalling and fundamentally dishonest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cCriticizing 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,\u201d Ruffalo wrote in an X post Saturday. \u201cThis critical and necessary dialogue is then dishonestly framed as being anti-Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The dispute traces back to a social media post from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement \u2014 a Palestinian-led campaign opposing Israel\u2019s occupation, which began in 1967 \u2014 that Ruffalo had boosted.<\/p>\n

The post featured comments from Oracle executive vice chair Safra Catz describing the company\u2019s assistance to Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack.<\/p>\n

Catz said Oracle undertook efforts it couldn\u2019t fully discuss to support the Israeli military, alluding to advanced technology the company made available for that purpose.<\/p>\n

BDS captioned the clip by accusing Oracle of being \u201ccomplicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity \u2014 including apartheid and genocide against Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruffalo reshared the post to his Instagram story Friday, taking aim at Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison \u2014 who backed his son David Ellison\u2019s acquisition of Paramount Global through Skydance Media. Ruffalo argued that Larry Ellison is \u201cusing [Oracle] to fund his son David\u2019s Warner Bros acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThese \u2018really profoundly scary technologies\u2019 will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you,\u201d Ruffalo wrote. \u201cLook how [Catz] revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruffalo urged his followers to push back against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, arguing it would be \u201ccatastrophic for our film industry\u201d through job losses, higher cable costs, and reduced competition.<\/p>\n

The merger remains on hold, possibly until next June, while a federal judge considers a lawsuit from a coalition of state attorneys general challenging the deal over antitrust grounds.<\/p>\n

Paramount responded over the weekend, saying it was \u201ctroubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWords like \u2018genocide\u2019 and \u2018apartheid,\u2019 applied to a corporate transaction, aren\u2019t just wrong \u2014 they\u2019re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe,\u201d Paramount said in a statement to multiple news outlets. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t deserve a response in kind \u2014 and to be clear, we don\u2019t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Lindsay Clancy\u2019s murder trial has captured the nation\u2019s attention. Here\u2019s why.<\/a><\/p>\n

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NBC News did not receive the statement from Paramount.<\/p>\n

In his Saturday response on X, Ruffalo reiterated that his criticism was not directed at Jewish people. He said the merger \u201chas real consequences for real people, and for the entire country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cScrutinizing the Ellisons, including Oracle\u2019s 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,\u201d the actor wrote. \u201cThe $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.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Paramount spokesperson said the company has no further comment.<\/p>\n

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a pro-Israel human rights organization, took to social media Saturday to \u201ccommend Paramount for speaking clearly and refusing to allow prejudice to masquerade as political or corporate criticism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Simony, president and director general of the nonprofit Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, issued a similar statement via email.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cParamount deserves recognition for confronting antisemitic tropes directly and unequivocally,\u201d Simony wrote. \u201cFrom the earliest days of Hollywood, Jews working in media have seen their participation recast as control and their success as conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruffalo\u2019s comments also drew criticism from Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent pro-Israel advocacy group.<\/p>\n

The actor has long been a critic of Israel\u2019s military conduct in Gaza, frequently using his social media platforms and public appearances to draw attention to civilian suffering there.<\/p>\n

In 2021, he apologized for social media posts suggesting Israel was committing genocide, calling the characterization inaccurate, inflammatory, and disrespectful, and warning that it risked fueling antisemitism. Since then, however, his criticism of Israel has grown more pointed.<\/p>\n

Last September, a United Nations commission concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Public opinion in the U.S. has also shifted: a February Gallup poll found that , for the first time, more Americans said they sympathized with Palestinians (41%) than with Israelis (36%).<\/p>\n

Ruffalo was among thousands of film industry workers who pledged last year not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are \u201cimplicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In a September interview with Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan, he described Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza in blunt terms, calling them a famine, a genocide, and ethnic cleansing.<\/p>\n

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Mark Ruffalo is pushing back against Paramount Skydance after the media giant characterized his anti-merger comments as antisemitic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Appalling\u2019: Mark Ruffalo denies antisemitism charge from Paramount Skydance over merger criticism - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4353\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Appalling\u2019: Mark Ruffalo denies antisemitism charge from Paramount Skydance over merger criticism - 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