Prominent Jewish actors and filmmakers push back on accusations of antisemitism against actor Mark Ruffalo after he invoked false claims of genocide and apartheid by Israel to denounce merger with company heavily owned by a Jewish family.
By World Israel News Staff
More than 180 Jewish actors, filmmakers, writers and other cultural figures have signed an open letter defending actor Mark Ruffalo after Paramount accused the actor of invoking antisemitic tropes while campaigning against its proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The letter, whose signatories include Joaquin Phoenix, Joel Coen, Jonathan Glazer, Tony Kushner, Hannah Einbinder, Ilana Glazer, Todd Haynes, Wallace Shawn, Naomi Klein and James Schamus, accuses Ruffalo’s critics of waging an “outrageous smear campaign” against the longtime political activist.
The signatories argue that Ruffalo’s criticism was directed at the business and political activities of Paramount’s controlling Ellison family and Oracle, not at Jews as a group.
“Pointing out the crucial connections between what is happening in Gaza and what is happening in Hollywood is the exact opposite of antisemitism,” the letter states, describing such criticism as a Jewish ethical obligation.
The controversy began after Ruffalo, one of Hollywood’s most prominent opponents of Paramount’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, posted criticism of the Ellison family and drew attention to Oracle’s longstanding technological ties to Israel.
Paramount CEO David Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who is backing the financing for the roughly $110 billion acquisition. Safra Catz, Oracle’s executive vice chair, also serves on Paramount’s board.
In an Aug. 21 social media post, Ruffalo shared video of Catz discussing assistance Oracle provided to Israel following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist invasion.
Catz said Oracle possessed “really profoundly scary technologies” and wanted to ensure they were available to Israel.
Ruffalo claimed that technology associated with Oracle could ultimately become intertwined with one of the world’s largest media companies if the Warner Bros. acquisition proceeds.
He also falsely accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza under an “apartheid” system and tied those claims to Oracle’s support for Israel.
Paramount responded by accusing the actor of injecting “antisemitic tropes” into a corporate fight and said applying terms such as genocide and apartheid to the transaction was “a bridge too far.”
Ruffalo denied that his accusations against Israel and his efforts to link Israel to Oracle constituted antisemitism.
“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo said, arguing that accusing ISrael of genocide after October 7 and criticizing Oracle’s Jewish founder’s ties to Israel are “not the same as criticizing Jewish people.”
Paramount’s position received support from several Jewish organizations and entertainment-industry figures.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center praised Paramount for speaking out, arguing that bringing Israel into the merger debate amounted to a “textbook case of obsession and demonization.”
“Invoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant” was inappropriate, Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Jim Berk said.
A separate group known as “The Brigade,” comprising nearly 1,000 entertainment-industry figures and allies of the Jewish community, also condemned Ruffalo. Signatories to its statement included producers Haim Saban, Lawrence Bender and Teddy Schwarzman.
The group described Ruffalo’s comments as “simple antisemitism” and accused him of depicting Jewish executives as a “secretive and powerful wealth-hoarding elite delighting in mass death.”
The more than 180 Jewish figures who signed the new letter rejected that interpretation, arguing that the identities of the executives involved do not make scrutiny of their political activities or corporate connections antisemitic.
Their letter specifically points to Larry Ellison’s support for Israel, Oracle’s work with Israeli government and military institutions and the Ellison family’s growing control of media assets as legitimate subjects of public debate.
The dispute comes amid a much larger battle over Paramount’s effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, a transaction that would put some of the biggest properties in American entertainment and news under one corporate umbrella, including the Paramount and Warner Bros. studios, CBS, CNN, HBO, Paramount+ and HBO Max.
The US Justice Department cleared the transaction in June following an eight-month antitrust investigation, concluding that the merger was unlikely to harm competition in streaming, traditional television or theatrical film production and distribution.
The deal, however, remains tied up in litigation.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and attorneys general from 11 other states have challenged the acquisition on antitrust grounds, and Paramount has agreed not to close the transaction while that case proceeds.
A trial is currently scheduled for March.
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