As Los Angeles endures another wave of violent unrest, actor Mark Ruffalo is under fire for describing these LA Riots as “peaceful civil disobedience” and urging his followers to join similar protests in their own cities.
The chaos began following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles on Friday. What started as protests quickly escalated into a multi-day maelstrom of looting, arson, and violent clashes between demonstrators and police. Videos circulating on social media show fires engulfing local businesses, crowds ransacking storefronts, and emergency responders being pelted with debris.
Here’s an Apple store being looted last night in LA. Best Buy might as well board up all its stores for the weekend. People are so mad at Trump’s immigration policy they are going to steal a ton of TVs and laptops. pic.twitter.com/uaqZbYPei0
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 10, 2025
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The city has since imposed a mandatory curfew, while law enforcement—including the National Guard—attempts to restore order. Arrests have surged into the hundreds, and damage to private property has been extensive.
Yet amid this violence, Avengers star Mark Ruffalo took to social media to characterize the unrest as peaceful.
(L-R): Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk / Bruce Banner and Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer “Jen” Walters/She-Hulk in Marvel Studios‘ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
“Turning the military directly on American citizens on US soil is unconstitutional,” Ruffalo said on Bluesky, referencing the National Guard being mobilized to stop the mass destruction. “This is not an insurrection. These are peaceful civil disobedience protests. They’re treating our National Guard like trash. June 14th is no Kings Day. Find a protest in your city.”
Ruffalo’s call to action referenced an upcoming nationwide protest movement known as “No Kings Day,” scheduled for June 14th—President Trump’s birthday and Flag Day. The date has been chosen by progressive organizers to push back against what they see as rising authoritarianism, including a military parade planned in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump speaks at CPAC in 2017 – YouTube, The New York Times
The statement has drawn immediate criticism for what many view as a willfully misleading portrayal of the events. While Ruffalo’s language calls for peaceful resistance, his framing ignores the extensive destruction and criminal activity that has defined much of the LA response.
Ruffalo also accused President Donald Trump of grifting the American people.
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“The president is a grifter, his family is raking it in with their bit coin con, the dopey tech billionaire takes your tax money to make himself richer than any person in the history of mankind with his pipe dream of living on Mars, while you starve,” Ruffalo said.
He concluded his message with a warning, claiming, “You are pointing the gun in the wrong direction.”
Critics say that Ruffalo’s attempt to paint the riots as noble civil disobedience is not only irresponsible, but also dangerous—particularly when paired with a national call to “find a protest” in one’s own area. While his defenders argue the actor is speaking metaphorically, the escalation in Los Angeles presents a grim picture. As of Tuesday morning, multiple vehicles had been set on fire, pharmacies and electronics stores were looted, and over 300 arrests had been made in connection to the violence.
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
In that context, Ruffalo’s comments are raising eyebrows—not because he opposes the Trump administration, but because he appears to overlook the very real suffering inflicted on Los Angeles residents during the riots.
Despite the political discourse, Ruffalo is reportedly saddling up for his next appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Industry rumors claim he’ll reprise his role as Bruce Banner/Hulk in the upcoming Spider‑Man: Brand New Day in a reportedly substantial part, not just a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. Rumors also claim he’ll return in the forthcoming Avengers films Doomsday and Secret Wars.
(L_R): Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season two, exclusively on Disney+. ©.
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By contrast, another high-profile franchise actor, Gina Carano, recently found herself fired by Disney and Lucasfilm and losing her role as Cara Dune in The Mandalorian after sharing a social media post comparing political viewpoints to German persecution in the 1940s. Lucasfilm, a division of Disney, described this as “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Neither Disney nor Marvel have spoken out about Ruffalo’s incendiary political comments.
Ruffalo’s ongoing MCU presence ties him even more closely to Disney and Marvel, lending extra weight to his public political posture. Carano’s fate underscores how Disney is enforcing social media accountability for some even as another Disney–Marvel actor is openly mobilizing public protest against a sitting U.S. president.
A screenshot from Thor Ragnarok where Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo talks with Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth – YouTube, U Media
Carano is currently suing Disney and Lucasfilm, and it’s possible that Ruffalo’s ongoing political activism will be used by her legal team as evidence of a double standard.
Whether Ruffalo walks back his comments on the LA Riots remains to be seen. But as Los Angeles picks up the pieces, the divide between Hollywood’s messaging and real-world consequences continues to grow ever wider.
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