Paramount attacks Marvel star Mark Ruffalo: "He is using antisemitic tropes"
After already speaking out against the massive deal to acquire Warner Bros., the actor known for his anti-Israel positions shared a video in which Safra Catz, a Paramount board member and senior executive at Oracle, talks about the technology the company made available to the IDF, linked it to the Ellison family, and claimed she is boasting about "genocide" and "apartheid." Paramount responded in an unusual manner, hinting that his words "reveal the true motive of some of those who opposed the deal."
One of the largest media deals in Hollywood history has already managed to ignite a legal battle, put unions on their feet, and drag politicians and stars into it. Over the weekend, it also received an Israeli front and an unusual response from one of the world's largest studios: Paramount accused Marvel star Mark Ruffalo of using "antisemitic tropes" after he linked the acquisition of Warner Bros. to the ties of tech giant Oracle with Israel and the IDF.
Ruffalo, known to millions as Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the "Avengers" films, has been one of the most prominent voices against the deal, estimated at about $111 billion, for months. However, this is the first time he has expanded the struggle beyond claims of layoffs, centralization, and harm to creativity, and directly included his positions on Israel and the war in Gaza.
In a post published to his 20.5 million Instagram followers, Ruffalo shared a video of Safra Catz, the Israeli-American who served for years as CEO of Oracle and currently serves as a senior vice president at the company and a member of the Paramount board. Catz, a native of Holon, is considered one of the most public supporters of Israel among Silicon Valley executives. After October 7, Oracle expressed open support for Israel, and Catz herself made it clear on several occasions that the company does not intend to downplay its position.
The video shared by Ruffalo was recorded at a conference of the Israeli-American Council (IAC) and has been circulating on the web again in recent days. In it, Catz spoke about the technological assistance that Oracle provided to Israel following the Hamas attack. "There are some things we did - that I really can't talk about - to advance the effort of the Israeli army," she said. "But we have some really, really scary technologies at Oracle, and we wanted to make sure they were available for the effort. Let's just leave it at that, okay?".
Ruffalo wrote, "This is the company that Larry Ellison is using to fund the acquisition of Warner Bros. by his son David," and claimed that those same technologies could be integrated in the future into one of the world's largest media conglomerates - "and one day be used against you too," he added. He accused Catz of boasting about what he described as "genocide," which he said is "built on an apartheid system of oppression operated through Oracle."
Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and one of the richest people in the world with a fortune estimated at about $200 billion, is the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison. The father's fortune is one of the main financial anchors behind the son's move to take over Warner Bros. Discovery and connect two of the strongest brands in Hollywood under one roof. Ruffalo called Ellison Sr. a "classic oligarch" and claimed that the family members "crush workers and concentrate the world's wealth for their power and control." According to him, the deal will give them not only enormous business power but also broader control over movies, series, news, and content that reaches hundreds of millions of viewers.
Usually, a Hollywood studio would prefer not to enter into a public confrontation with prominent Hollywood actors, but Paramount chose to respond at length, and in an unusual way, it not only rejected his words - but explicitly defined them as antisemitic. "We are troubled, as always, when antisemitic tropes are used in the service of a business dispute," a company spokesperson said. "Words like 'genocide' and 'apartheid,' when spoken about a corporate deal, are not just wrong. They are crossing a line, and they cheapen the real suffering that these words are intended to describe."
Paramount added that Ruffalo's statement "reveals the true motive of some of those who opposed the deal," hinting that at least for some of the opponents, it is not just about antitrust laws, layoffs, or the future of the industry. The company asked to "lower the temperature, not raise it," and emphasized that it is committed "to every story, to every storyteller, and without blacklists. Without exception."
The reference to "blacklists" is not accidental. Just a few months ago, Ruffalo claimed that he assumed he had already been put on a "list" himself due to his opposition to the Ellisons. He said that people in the industry were afraid to join a letter against the deal, and claimed that the Ellison family is perceived by some in Hollywood as vengeful toward those who speak out against them.
Already in 2020, Ruffalo described the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians as "a kind of apartheid" and claimed that American support for Israel helps a system of separation and violence. During the round of fighting in Gaza in 2021, he called for sanctions on Israel until it "frees the Palestinians." That same year, he also used the term "genocide," and then actually retracted it publicly. "I thought about the things and I want to apologize," he wrote after the fighting between Israel and Hamas. According to him, the claim that Israel is committing genocide is "inaccurate, inflammatory, and disrespectful," and he warned that it is used "to justify antisemitism here and abroad."
But since October 7, Ruffalo has become one of the most prominent faces of the pro-Palestinian camp in Hollywood. He was among hundreds of cultural figures who signed the Artists4Ceasefire call to President Joe Biden and lawmakers to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, and at the 2024 Oscars, he arrived with the campaign's red pin. Later, he was among the leaders of an initiative that called on the US to stop arms transfers to Israel, which the signatories claimed violate American and international law.
Last year, he went a step further and joined, alongside Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, Javier Bardem, and others, a pledge not to work with Israeli film institutions that the signatories defined as "involved in genocide and apartheid." The initiative clarified that the boycott is aimed at institutions and not at Israeli creators as private individuals. Paramount itself spoke out against that boycott at the time.
His struggle against the merger, however, began for completely different reasons. Ruffalo testified against the deal at a Senate hearing, signed a letter with hundreds of industry figures calling to block it, and claimed that it would lead to layoffs, weaken competition, and concentrate creative and economic power in the hands of one family. He also circulated estimates that the merger could lead to the loss of about 4,500 direct jobs in the film and television industry in Los Angeles and thousands more indirect jobs.
