Over a Thousand Industry Figures Condemn Mark Ruffalo's Paramount Rhetoric as Antisemitic
A group of more than a thousand Jews and allies across the media, music and entertainment industries has signed a statement condemning what it calls antisemitic tropes in Mark Ruffalo's public commentary about Paramount and its corporate leadership.
The signatories include Haim Saban, chairman and CEO of Saban Entertainment; producer Teddy Schwarzman; and producer Lawrence Bender, alongside Ram Bergman, Anthony Bregman, Lynn Harris, Matti Leshem, Jamie Patricoff, Craig Emanuel, Shep Rosenman and Micah Green, according to Variety.
The statement takes direct aim at Ruffalo's language. Singling out Jewish executives and describing them in terms drawn from centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theories — while framing the attack around Israel — is antisemitic, the signatories wrote. They added that the rhetoric Ruffalo used is the same kind weaponised against Jews by Nazis, Soviets and the Ku Klux Klan.
The dispute centres on Ruffalo's social-media posts about Paramount, the studio headed by David Ellison. Ruffalo, a four-time Oscar nominee currently starring in Spider-Man: Brand New Day — which has grossed $2 billion worldwide — posted a video clip of Safra Catz, a Jewish Paramount board member and former CEO of Larry Ellison's tech company Oracle. He urged his 21 million Instagram followers to "look how she revels in… genocide." In further commentary, Ruffalo said the Ellisons are "crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power."
Paramount responded directly. The company said it was "troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute," according to Variety. Its statement was supported by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Creative Communities for Peace.
Ruffalo rejected the accusation. He fired back on X, calling Paramount's charge "appalling and fundamentally dishonest."
The exchange has drawn voices from both sides of the debate. Hannah Einbinder, the Emmy-winning star of the comedy Hacks, was among those who posted support for Ruffalo. Several leading Jewish and pro-Israel organisations had earlier condemned his rhetoric, as reported by Jewish Insider.
The business backdrop is large. Paramount Skydance is in the process of acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, a consolidation that would reshape two of Hollywood's major studios. Ruffalo's posts about Catz and the Ellison family touch on the very corporate leadership driving that transaction.
What makes the clash unusual is the breadth of the industry response. Statements from individual organisations are common; a coordinated letter backed by over a thousand signatories across film, television and music is not. The names on it span producers, agents and executives who operate inside the same studios and agencies where the business dispute at the centre of this fight is playing out.
