Mark Ruffalo’s campaign against the proposed Paramount Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery merger has taken a dramatic turn, with several major Jewish organizations condemning the Marvel actor after he connected the Ellison family, Oracle, Israel, and the war in Gaza to his argument against the deal.
Rather than backing away after Paramount accused him of invoking antisemitic tropes, Ruffalo has doubled down, blasting the studio’s response as “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”
Now, the controversy has expanded well beyond a public spat between an actor and a major Hollywood studio.
The Anti-Defamation League, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Creative Community for Peace, and Jewish Federation Los Angeles have all publicly rebuked Ruffalo, while one organization has gone as far as calling for Hollywood to boycott the actor until he apologizes and retracts his remarks.
Ruffalo Drags Israel and Gaza Into Paramount Merger Fight
The controversy erupted after Ruffalo intensified his campaign against the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
In a lengthy social media post, the actor attacked Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, while pointing to Oracle’s relationship with Israel and technology used in connection with the country’s military operations.
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Ruffalo shared a 2024 video featuring former Oracle CEO Safra Catz discussing the company’s technology and its relationship with Israel’s military, before connecting those ties to what he described as Israel’s “ge**cide” in Gaza.
The actor also described Larry Ellison as a “classic oligarch” and warned about wealthy individuals “consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.”
That prompted a furious response from Paramount.
A company spokesperson told TheWrap that Ruffalo’s rhetoric had crossed “a bridge too far.”
“We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” the Paramount spokesperson said.
What had previously been a debate over media consolidation, antitrust concerns, and control of Warner Bros. Discovery had suddenly become a fight over Israel, Gaza, and allegations of antisemitism.
Major Jewish Groups Condemn Ruffalo
Paramount is no longer standing alone.
Four prominent Jewish organizations have now publicly criticized Ruffalo’s rhetoric.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tore into the actor, describing Ruffalo’s posts as “cynical and sickening.”
Greenblatt argued that Ruffalo was free to oppose the Paramount merger based on the merits of the transaction but questioned why Israel had been inserted into the dispute at all.
The posts by Mark Ruffalo over the past 48 hours are cynical and sickening.
Oppose the Paramount merger on the merits, find arguments grounded in facts, and draw on what you know about the industry without engaging in antisemitic rhetoric.
Introducing the Jewish state out of… https://t.co/GYCZYJB9BC
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) August 23, 2026
“Oppose the Paramount merger on the merits, find arguments grounded in facts and draw on what you know about the industry without engaging in antisemitic rhetoric,” Greenblatt wrote.
He specifically accused Ruffalo of introducing “the Jewish state out of the blue when it’s entirely unrelated” before attempting to avoid responsibility for the implications of his comments.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center also backed Paramount’s response.
CEO Jim Berk argued that bringing Israel into the merger fight represented “obsession and demonization.”
“Invoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant is a textbook case of obsession and demonization,” Berk said. “Paramount was right to call it out.”
Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, is defending Paramount after the studio called Mark Ruffalo’s anti-merger comments “antisemitic.”
Berk wrote: “Words matter, and so does the willingness to draw a line when legitimate debate gives way to antisemitic tropes. We…
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) August 24, 2026
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Jewish Federation Los Angeles CEO Noah Farkas was even more explicit, characterizing Ruffalo’s comments as an “unhinged rant” that combined themes involving “Jewish wealth, media control, secret technology and sinister global power.”
That criticism gets directly to the heart of the controversy.
Ruffalo maintains that he is criticizing specific executives, corporations, and Israeli government policy. His critics contend that by tying together Israel, the Ellisons, enormous wealth, media ownership, technology, and warnings about concentrated global power, he is invoking themes historically associated with antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Hollywood Group Calls For Ruffalo Boycott
Creative Community for Peace went even further.
The Hollywood-based organization called for an industry boycott of Ruffalo until the actor apologizes and retracts his statements.
Executive Director Ari Ingel accused Ruffalo of moving beyond legitimate criticism of Israel.
“Mark Ruffalo’s rhetoric has increasingly crossed the line from criticism of Israel into extremist and antisemitic messaging,” Ingel said.
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
Ingel argued that Ruffalo had created a narrative combining “hostility toward Israel and Zionism with Jewish-associated wealth, media ownership, oligarchic power and ominous warnings about concentrated control.”
“Those echoes are impossible to ignore,” he added, before calling on Hollywood not to platform Ruffalo until he apologizes.
That represents a significant escalation for Ruffalo.
This is no longer simply Paramount defending itself against criticism from a celebrity activist. A Hollywood advocacy organization is now openly telling the entertainment industry to stop giving Ruffalo a platform.
Ruffalo Doubles Down and Blasts Paramount
Ruffalo, however, is showing no signs of retreating.
After Paramount accused him of invoking antisemitic rhetoric, the actor issued a lengthy defense on X.
“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo wrote.
He insisted that criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, military technology contracts, or executives involved with those contracts should not automatically be interpreted as criticism of Jewish people.
The accusation that I am antisemitic is 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. This critical and necessary dialogue…
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) August 22, 2026
“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 wrote.
He added that his political views “should never be interpreted as hostility toward Jewish people,” saying he has “deep love and respect” for the Jewish community.
In other words, Ruffalo isn’t conceding Paramount’s central argument. He’s accusing the company of dishonestly characterizing political criticism as antisemitism.
The Jewish organizations criticizing Ruffalo are making the opposite argument: that intent does not necessarily erase the historical implications of the rhetoric someone chooses to use.
Ruffalo Has Been Here Before
There is another piece of Ruffalo’s history that makes this controversy particularly noteworthy.
In 2021, Ruffalo apologized after previously using the word “ge**cide” while discussing Israel.
Creative Community for Peace specifically cited that history in its latest criticism of the actor, noting that Ruffalo acknowledged at the time that the terminology was “not accurate,” “inflammatory,” and could be “used to justify antisemitism.”
Let’s talk about what just happened with @MarkRuffalo.
This week, Mark went after David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison over the Paramount—Warner Bros. merger, and in doing so engaged in age-old antisemitic tropes.
Mark responded by saying he has Jewish friends. And that… pic.twitter.com/XUqKtD6RcZ
— Noa Tishby (@noatishby) August 23, 2026
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Yet five years later, Ruffalo has again used the ge**cide accusation while discussing Israel — this time while simultaneously attacking one of Hollywood’s most powerful families and one of the largest media mergers in recent memory.
That is exactly why this latest controversy is becoming considerably harder for Ruffalo to dismiss as nothing more than Paramount protecting its corporate interests.
He has already faced criticism over this language before, admitted that his wording could contribute to antisemitism, and has now returned to similar rhetoric.
A Merger Fight Has Become Something Much Bigger
The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery battle was already one of the ugliest corporate fights in Hollywood.
Ruffalo and other opponents have attacked the merger over concerns about consolidation, layoffs, political influence, and the future of the entertainment industry.
Those are all legitimate areas for debate.
But Ruffalo’s decision to bring Israel and Gaza into the argument changed the nature of the fight entirely.
Paramount Pictures Logo – YouTube, ClosingLogosHD
Paramount immediately accused the actor of crossing a line. Now multiple prominent Jewish organizations are saying essentially the same thing.
Ruffalo insists he is being smeared for criticizing the Israeli government and corporate involvement with its military.
His critics argue that his rhetoric goes far beyond ordinary criticism of government policy and instead combines Israel, Jewish-associated wealth, media ownership, technology, and concentrated power in ways that echo historically antisemitic narratives.
Whatever Ruffalo’s intent, the political pressure campaign against Paramount has now produced an extraordinary result.
Mark Ruffalo being interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel – Youtube, Jimmy Kimmel Live
Instead of forcing the company onto the defensive, Ruffalo finds himself explaining his own rhetoric while Jewish organizations publicly condemn him and at least one Hollywood group calls for the industry to boycott him.
And rather than attempting to cool the situation down, Ruffalo has chosen to double down. The fight over Paramount’s future just became a fight over Mark Ruffalo himself.
How do you feel about Mark Ruffalo and his comments about the Paramount Warner Bros. Discovery merger? Sound off and let us know!
