RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from The A.V. Club — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 2 sourcesActor Mark Ruffalo is spending his weekend trading blows with media conglomerate Paramount, having written an extensive statement on Saturday attacking the company for accusing him of antisemitic rhetoric on Friday . Calling the allegations—which were launched against him after he made an Instagram Stories post in which he highlighted tech company Oracle’s connections to both Israel’s conduct in Gaza, as well its bankrolling of founder Larry Ellison’s son David’s efforts to become a Hollywood mogul—”appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo ultimately refocused his ire on the currently brewing Paramount/Warner Bros. merger, which he called a “serious threat to editorial freedom and the loss of a livelihood for thousands of families.”
The conflict between the eternally outspoken Ruffalo and Paramount got heated on Friday night, after the studio responded to Ruffalo’s critique of Oracle executives (and Paramount board members) by accusing him of engaging in “antisemitic tropes.” Ruffalo responded today by writing that “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.”
Refocusing on the merger, Ruffalo—who’s currently in theaters courtesy of Spider-Man: Brand New Day —wrote that “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 ended by re-upping calls for the details of the merger to be examined more thoroughly by regulators.
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.