Paramount has pushed back sharply after Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo accused the company of being complicit “in what we now have come to see as a genocide.”
Ruffalo, 58, took aim at Paramount in an Instagram Stories post on Friday, criticizing David Ellison, 43, and his father Larry Ellison, 82, and alleging that the billionaires were “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world.”
The award-winning actor also reposted an old video featuring Safra Catz, the Israeli-American business executive who previously served as Oracle’s CEO and now sits as the company’s executive vice chair of the board of directors.
“This is the company that Larry Ellison is using to fund his son David’s Warner Bros acquisition,” Ruffalo told his 20.5 million Instagram followers.
Paramount quickly issued a forceful response, saying they were ‘as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,’ according to CNN’s Brian Stelter.
A Paramount spokesperson rejected Ruffalo’s language, saying: “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 company added: “This doesn’t deserve a response in kind — and to be clear, we don’t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.”
Paramount said the dispute called for “a moment to lower the temperature, not raise it,” adding that it would “rather build than further engage in such rhetoric.”
Hollywood A-lister Mark Ruffalo, 58, accused David and Larry Ellison of “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world” on Instagram on Friday
David Ellison’s company said Ruffalo’s use of the words ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid’ were ‘a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe’
Paramount said that Ruffalo’s remarks ‘simply exposes the true motivation of some who have advocated opposition to this transaction,’ referring to its proposed $110 billion merger with Warner Bros.
The company said it was committed ‘to every story, every storyteller, and no blacklists, no exceptions, for anyone.’
‘We understand people feel strongly about this merger and are hopeful and expect that it will be judged based on the legal merits, not underlying bias,’ Paramount continued.
Paramount’s statement finished by asking for ‘less rhetoric, more understanding.’
In his Instagram story, Ruffalo asked, ‘Why has Trump pushed this illegal merger through?’
Ruffalo also called Larry Ellison a ‘classic oligarch’ who would own most of what he disparagingly coined ‘Para Bros.’
‘They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance,’ Ruffalo wrote.
Ruffalo accused Paramount of being complicit ‘in what we now have come to see as a genocide’
In his remarks, Ruffalo also took aim at Paramount’s $110 billion proposed merger with Warner Bros, calling it ‘catastrophic for our film industry’
Ellison’s company said that it was ‘a moment to lower the temperature, not raise it,’ as it dressed down Ruffalo’s remarks
Ruffalo noted that 12 Attorneys General were suing to stop the Paramount-Warner Bros merger.
‘It will be catastrophic for our film industry,’ Ruffalo wrote. ‘Merger [sic] like this are almost always bad for workers, consumers, and the industry they tend to dominate.’
The effort to stop the merger is being led by California, whose film industry has struggled in recent times.
Paramount’s merger with Warner Bros could cost Los Angeles County approximately 4,500 film and television jobs, according to a report published by LA County on Tuesday.
The video of Catz speaking that Ruffalo shared was from the Israeli-American Council National Summit in 2024, per the Hollywood Reporter.
Ruffalo wrote in his Instagram story: ‘Look how she revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.’
In the clip, Catz talked about advancing ‘the agenda for the Israeli military’ and mentioned ‘really profoundly scary technology at Oracle.’
‘We wanted to make sure that it was available for the effort,’ she said, referring to the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Ruffalo’s representatives and Paramount for further comment.
