Mark Ruffalo has become embroiled in an anti-Semitism row with Paramount.
The Hollywood actor, who plays the Hulk in the Marvel films, was accused of pushing “anti-Semitic tropes” while arguing against the US$111 billion ($155 billion) merger between the entertainment giant and Warner Bros.
In a post on social media, Ruffalo told his followers the acquisition meant the technology behind what he described as Israel’s genocide in Gaza would be turned against them.
He noted that Larry Ellison, the Jewish founder of the data giant Oracle, had guaranteed more than US$40 billion ($56 billion) for the proposed merger, which is being spearheaded by his son David Ellison, the Paramount chief executive.
At the same time, he posted a 2024 clip of Safra Catz, Oracle’s former chief executive, talking about the “profoundly scary technologies” the company provided to the Israeli military in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
“These ‘really profoundly scary technologies’ will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day be used on you,” Ruffalo wrote on Instagram.
“Look how she [Catz] reveals in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.”
Accusing Oracle of “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world”, he asked why Donald Trump, the US president, had “pushed this illegal merger through”.
Trump’s administration approved the acquisition in June, deciding it was “not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers”, without requiring Paramount to make concessions such as selling off assets.
Larry Ellison, who is worth around US$189 billion ($264 billion), was a “classic oligarch” who was “crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world”, Ruffalo went on to claim.
A Paramount spokesman told The Hollywood Reporter: “We are, as always, troubled when anti-Semitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.
“Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid’, applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong – they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe.”
The spokesman claimed Ruffalo’s intervention “simply exposes the true motivation of some who have advocated opposition to this transaction”. He added: “This brings us to a moment to lower the temperature, not raise it. We’d rather build than further engage in such rhetoric.”
Among the channels Paramount would acquire is CNN, the news channel, raising alarms among press freedom campaigners who note the Ellison family’s ties to Trump.
Paramount and Warner Bros are delaying their merger until next year, amid a legal challenge by 12 Democratic state attorneys general, led by California’s Rob Bonta, who argue the media behemoth would “extinguish competition” in Hollywood.
Last month, Bonta called the proposal “illegal” and vowed that it would “never see the light of day”.
“Our argument against this illegal merger is straightforward: when too few corporations have too much power in markets central to American life, it makes things more expensive, and it makes things worse,” he said.
On July 20, a US district judge granted a temporary restraining order on the acquisition, saying the states had raised “serious questions” and made a strong case that it could “substantially lessen competition”.
Ruffalo, in his social media post, said the resulting media empire would “flatten out competition”, push up the cost of cable TV and cause the loss of thousands of film jobs.
“It also concentrates an enormous amount of creative control to companies that say and do things like this strange woman from Oracle,” he added, referring to Catz.
The Paramount spokesman said it hoped the merger would “be judged based on the legal merits, not underlying bias”, adding: “We’re asking for the same good faith we’re extending: less rhetoric, more understanding.”
Ruffalo’s spokesman said: “This merger has real consequences for real people, and for the entire country. Scrutinising the Ellisons, including Oracle’s business built on data, surveillance technology and government contracts, and the serious threat to editorial freedom and the loss of a livelihood for thousands of families, is fair and necessary.
Ruffalo called the anti-Semitism allegation “appalling and fundamentally dishonest”.
“Criticising the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticising Jewish people,” he said.
“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.
The Telegraph, London
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