Hannah Einbinder Defends Mark Ruffalo After Paramount's Antisemitism Accusation
Comedian and actor Hannah Einbinder publicly backed Mark Ruffalo on Monday evening after a Paramount spokesperson accused him of antisemitism for criticising the Ellison family's ties to Israel and its military apparatus. Einbinder shared an Instagram story calling the accusation "LUDICROUS," according to Deadline.
The dispute centres on Ruffalo's comments about Oracle — the technology company controlled by Larry Ellison — and its role in the Israel-Gaza war. Ruffalo had shared a video showing Oracle executive vice chair Safra Catz discussing how the company made "really profoundly scary technology" available to the Israeli military during its offensive in Gaza, Deadline reported. He also wrote that Oracle is the company Ellison is using to fund his son David's acquisition of Warner Bros.
Einbinder, whose mother is Jewish and who has spoken publicly about her heritage, laid out a series of connections in her Instagram post. She said Ruffalo drew a link between the Ellisons providing military technology to Israel during what she described as a genocide and their "unprecedented media takeover." She noted that Safra Catz sits on Paramount's board. She said Larry Ellison has donated tens of millions of dollars to Donald Trump's political efforts over several years. And she said Ellison once offered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a lucrative Oracle post, Deadline reported.
Einbinder framed Ruffalo's comments as criticism of "right-wing technofeudalist oligarchs" carrying out the largest media acquisition in history, rather than an attack on Jewish people. She also said opposition to the proposed Paramount–Warner Bros. merger is about protecting Hollywood crews and workers who could lose thousands of jobs if the deal goes through.
Paramount Skydance had accused Ruffalo of invoking "antisemitic tropes" in his criticism of the company, as The Guardian and NBC News reported. The Simon Wiesenthal Center's CEO and the group Creative Communities For Peace separately called out Ruffalo over what they described as "extremist and antisemitic messaging," Variety and Deadline reported.
Ruffalo dismissed the accusation in a lengthy post on X, calling it "appalling and fundamentally dishonest." He wrote that 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. His views, he said, come from his own political convictions and should never be read as hostility toward Jewish people, for whom he expressed "deep love and respect," Deadline reported.
The exchange has now drawn in voices from inside the industry. Einbinder, star of the HBO comedy Hacks, is one of the first prominent performers to publicly side with Ruffalo since the accusation surfaced. The fight touches two of the biggest questions in the media business right now: the wave of consolidation sweeping through Hollywood, and the line between political criticism of Israel's military actions and accusations of antisemitism — a line that studios, advocacy groups, and artists are increasingly contesting in public.
