RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 4 sourcesMark Ruffalo has built a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most outspoken performers—a guy who really does not mince words when he feels that a political issue can benefit from his thoughts, his advocacy, or even just a dose of his Marvel-grown celebrity. Certainly, that “see something, say something as loudly as you can” ethos has been in obvious effect in Ruffalo’s critiques of both Israel’s actions in Palestine since the October 7 attacks in 2023, as well as Paramount’s plans to acquire Warner Bros. and add it to its growing portfolio—two topics that Ruffalo brought together via his social media presence today. That’s when he launched a post—since condemned as “antisemitic” by its targets—attacking Oracle, the Larry Ellison-owned tech company that is bankrolling Ellison’s son David’s efforts to buy Warner Bros., and which has close ties to Israel.
Ruffalo kicked this particular hornet’s nest earlier on Friday, when he resurfaced ( per Variety ) a video of Oracle top-level executive (and Paramount Skydance board member) Safra Catz bragging about the “really profoundly scary technologies” that the company had provided to Israel in the wake of the attacks. In the following slide on his Instagram Story, Ruffalo drew some fairly blunt parallels between Oracle’s involvement in the conflict and its current efforts to buy up the rival studio:
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. There is an old saying. “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.” From one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world. Why has Trump pushed this illegal merger through? Larry Ellison will own most of “Para Bros.” Larry is a classic Oligarch. They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.
We have a chance to stop this. There are 12 state Attorneys General suing to block this merger. It will be catastrophic for our film industry. There will be a loss of 4500 direct film making jobs and the loss of another 10k ancillary jobs. Mergers like this are almost always bad for workers, consumers, and the industry they tend to dominate. It’s a classic antitrust case. It will hike up the cost of cable and flatten out competition. This means less choice for our audiences. It also concentrates an enormous amount of creative control to companies that say and do things like this strange woman from Oracle. Really profoundly Scary people.
Paramount has not taken this wide-ranging broadside well, issuing a statement to The Wrap today in which a spokesperson wrote that “We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.” Zeroing in on Ruffalo’s use of the words “apartheid” and “genocide” to describe Israel’s allegedly Oracle-supported actions in Gaza, the statement claims the actor was trying to apply them “to a corporate transaction,” calling it “a bridge too far,” and saying that they “cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe.”
This isn’t the first time that Paramount has fought back against actors vocalizing displeasure over Israel’s conduct in the region; although it held off on calling anyone antisemitic at the time, the company very publicly disagreed with a call, signed by thousands of Hollywood professionals last year, to boycott Israeli film and broadcast institutions “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.” Now, its statement is asking people to calm down, calling our current situation a “moment to lower the temperature, not raise it”—even as it implied that Ruffalo’s statement “exposes the true motivation” of some people unhappy at the idea of Paramount gobbling down a rival studio:
We’d rather build than further engage in such rhetoric. This simply exposes the true motivation of some who have advocated opposition to this transaction. On the other hand, our commitment to great content is matched by our commitment to acceptance—to every story, every storyteller, and no blacklists, no exceptions, for anyone. We understand people feel strongly about this merger and are hopeful and expect that it will be judged based on the legal merits, not underlying bias. We’re asking for the same good faith we’re extending: less rhetoric, more understanding. Paramount’s future is being written for everyone who wants to make and watch great stories.
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