George Clooney has become the latest major Hollywood celebrity to wade into the increasingly bitter fight over Paramount’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, defending Mark Ruffalo following his controversial comments about the Ellison family while questioning whether the massive merger even makes financial sense.
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival, where he was receiving the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Clooney addressed Ruffalo’s escalating feud with Paramount after the Avengers actor connected his opposition to the merger with the Ellison family’s ties to Israel.
According to Variety, Clooney stopped short of explicitly endorsing Ruffalo’s accusations, instead arguing that the actor has the right to make them.
“I support Mark Ruffalo’s ability to speak freely,” Clooney said. “It’s ridiculous. We’re not going to ban speech. I believe in free speech even when I completely disagree with it. That’s important. In fact, it’s part of how democracy works.”
Clooney Joins the Paramount-Warner Bros. Fight
Clooney’s remarks arrive as opposition to the Paramount-Warner Bros. transaction has increasingly transformed from an ordinary corporate and regulatory battle into a political and ideological fight involving some of Hollywood’s biggest names.
Clooney himself made clear that he’s skeptical of the transaction, although his objections centered primarily on consolidation and potential job losses rather than Ruffalo’s political accusations.
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“I don’t see how the merger financially ends up making sense for the people who are trying to do it,” Clooney said. “We’ll see. I worry when a big company swallows up another company.”
He added, “I always worry whenever big companies are consolidating because it means a lot of people are going to lose their jobs.”
Those comments place Clooney among the Hollywood figures publicly questioning the deal as Paramount attempts to bring Warner Bros. Discovery — and its enormous portfolio of assets — under the same corporate umbrella.
But Clooney’s defense of Ruffalo comes after the controversy surrounding the actor moved well beyond concerns about Hollywood consolidation.
Ruffalo’s Attack on the Ellisons
Ruffalo attacked the proposed merger in August while also turning his attention toward Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Ruffalo shared a clip of Oracle executive vice chair and Paramount board member Safra Catz discussing technology Oracle provided to Israel following the October 7, 2023 attacks.
The actor then accused the Ellisons of being connected to what he characterized as a “ge**cide” against Palestinians and a “system of oppression powered by Oracle.”
Paramount responded forcefully.
Mark Ruffalo being interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel – Youtube, Jimmy Kimmel Live
The company said it was “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.”
The studio also insisted that it would tolerate “no blacklists, no exceptions, for anyone.”
Ruffalo subsequently fired back at Paramount, calling the accusation that he was antisemitic “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”
“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,” Ruffalo argued.
Hollywood Rallies Around Ruffalo
Clooney isn’t the only Hollywood figure coming to Ruffalo’s defense.
More than 180 Jewish entertainment industry figures and supporters subsequently signed an open letter defending Ruffalo against accusations of antisemitism. Signatories included Joaquin Phoenix, Joel Coen, Jonathan Glazer, Hannah Einbinder, Ilana Glazer, Tony Kushner, Wallace Shawn, and others.
However, Ruffalo has also faced condemnation from Jewish organizations and entertainment figures.
Mark Ruffalo speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International, for “Thor: Ragnarok” Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The Simon Wiesenthal Center and Creative Community for Peace criticized Ruffalo’s rhetoric, while a separate group of industry figures argued that it was inappropriate to inject Jewish identity and antisemitism into a corporate merger because some of the people involved in the transaction are Jewish.
That makes Clooney’s wording particularly noteworthy.
He didn’t say Ruffalo was correct about the Ellisons, Oracle, Israel, or Paramount. Instead, Clooney planted his flag on Ruffalo’s right to say it.
“I believe in free speech even when I completely disagree with it,” Clooney said. That’s a considerably narrower defense than endorsing Ruffalo’s underlying argument.
The Merger Battle Keeps Getting More Political
Still, Clooney’s intervention represents another indication that Hollywood’s battle over Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is becoming about far more than balance sheets.
The transaction has attracted opposition from politicians, unions, Hollywood celebrities, and industry activists, while questions surrounding CNN and the future of Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable properties have injected additional political stakes into the fight.
Now some of Hollywood’s most politically outspoken celebrities are lining up against the deal as well.
Clooney also used his Venice appearance to criticize President Donald Trump and express concern about wealthy individuals controlling major media companies. He specifically pointed toward Jeff Bezos’ ownership of The Washington Post and Elon Musk’s ownership of X while discussing the state of journalism.
Actor George Clooney sits for an interview – YouTube, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
“The richest people in the world are owning the Washington Post and Twitter, and that is a concern,” Clooney said.
The irony, of course, is that enormous media conglomerates controlled by billionaires are hardly a new phenomenon. Nor does Clooney’s skepticism answer the fundamental question facing Paramount and Warner Bros.: whether the combined company could ultimately compete more effectively in an entertainment industry increasingly dominated by massive technology and streaming companies.
What Clooney’s comments do demonstrate is that the political pressure surrounding the deal isn’t going away.
If anything, the fight is getting louder.
What began as a massive entertainment-industry merger has increasingly become a proxy battle over media ownership, President Trump, Israel, CNN, Hollywood jobs, and political influence.
And with Clooney now stepping into the fight alongside Ruffalo, Hollywood’s campaign against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger just gained another extremely prominent voice.
How do you feel about George Clooney defending Mark Ruffalo? Sound off and let us know!
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