Getty Images / Mark Ruffalo / Paramount
Mark Ruffalo, aka Bruce Banner, had time for Paramount after the studio slammed his comments about the merger.
Spotted on Variety, Ruffalo is best known for his roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe fired back at Paramount after the studio called his statements about the divisive merger “antisemitic,” afrer he said David and Larry Ellison were “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world.”
“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday morning. “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.”
Mark Ruffalo Had Time
He also shared a video of Paramount board member Safra Catz, alluding to the “really profoundly scary technologies” that were used by Oracle by to help the Israeli military following terror attack on Oct.7. He also called Larry Ellison a “classic oligarch” while warning of the consequences if the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. were still to happen.
“This merger has real consequences for real people, and for the entire country,” Ruffalo added. “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. 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.”
He clearly had time.
Paramount Clapped Back Calling Ruffalo’s Statement’s Antisemetic
Paramount didn’t take Ruffalo’s comments lightly with a spokesperson saying that the studio is “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute. 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. This doesn’t deserve a response in kind — and to be clear, we don’t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.”
We will continue to monitor how this all plays out.