In addition, the fight has grown increasingly ugly after Paramount threatened to leave California. Then, on Friday, the company accused actor Mark Ruffalo \u2014 a prominent deal critic \u2014 of injecting \u201cantisemitic tropes\u201d into the campaign to thwart the industry-reshaping deal. <\/p>\n
Leaders of prominent Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League, quickly came to Paramount\u2019s defense, scolding the Emmy-winning actor best known for playing the Hulk and in numerous productions for HBO, the premium channel that Paramount is hoping to buy. Ruffalo is also known for being an outspoken political progressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked,\u201d Paramount said in a statement. \u201cWords like \u2018genocide\u2019 and \u2018apartheid,\u2019 applied to a corporate transaction, aren\u2019t just wrong \u2014 they\u2019re a bridge too far.\u201d <\/p>\n
The fracas began last week when Ruffalo highlighted support for Israel by Ellison\u2019s father, Larry Ellison, and his software company, Oracle Corp., which has worked with the Israeli military amid the Israel-Gaza war. <\/p>\n
Ruffalo recirculated a two-year-old video clip<\/a> of Safra Catz, Oracle\u2019s former CEO and a current Paramount board member. During an Israeli-American Council National Summit conference, she said she couldn\u2019t discuss Oracle\u2019s work with Israel\u2019s military, but \u201cwe have some profoundly scary technology at Oracle and we wanted to make sure that it was available\u201d to Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks by Hamas.<\/p>\n Ruffalo, in his post, described the war in Gaza as a \u201cgenocide\u201d that \u201cwas built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.\u201d<\/p>\n In a subsequent post, Ruffalo defended his right to speak out against Oracle and the war in Gaza. <\/p>\n Mark Ruffalo stars in HBO\u2019s drama \u201cTask.\u201d<\/p>\n (Peter Kramer \/ HBO)<\/p>\n \u201cThe accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,\u201d Ruffalo wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cCriticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n The fight intensified Sunday when Mark Goldfeder, head of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, lashed out at Bonta and suggested California\u2019s top law enforcement official was doing Ruffalo\u2019s bidding by filing the antitrust lawsuit.<\/p>\n \u201cYour friend @MarkRuffalo <\/a>said the quiet part out loud. His campaign against the Jewish Ellisons is about Israel, \u2018genocide\u2019, and \u2018apartheid\u2019,\u201d Goldfeder wrote in a message on X directed<\/a> at Bonta. <\/p>\n \u201cDid you hear that too before you sued?\u201d Goldfeder asked \u2014 a reference to a Feb. 27 message by Bonta, who at the time was responding to Ruffalo\u2019s dismay after Paramount won the bidding war for Warner Bros., which also owns CNN.<\/p>\n In a nearly six-month-old post on X, Bonta wrote<\/a>: \u201cMark, I hear you. I\u2019m in conversation with my AG colleagues<\/a> about Paramount\/Warner Bros. As the epicenter of the entertainment industry, California has a special interest in protecting competition.\u201d<\/p>\n Bonta and 11 other state attorney generals, all Democrats, from states including Colorado, Washington, Nevada and New York, filed the antitrust suit last month.<\/p>\n Paramount declined to comment on the latest developments.<\/p>\n Ruffalo has long been an outspoken critic of Israel\u2019s involvement in Gaza. He\u2019s also been a major irritant to David Ellison and other top Paramount executives as the actor took a starring role, drumming up opposition in Hollywood to Paramount\u2019s proposed takeover of Warner Bros. <\/p>\n He helped lead a campaign that garnered signatures<\/a> of more than 5,000 entertainment workers<\/a>, including Ben Stiller, Bryan Cranston and Jane Fonda, who spoke out against the merger and its potential effect on Hollywood\u2019s creative community.<\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom has been privately advocating for a truce, in part, to avoid seeing another pillar of industry \u2014 the Paramount film studio \u2014 leave the state. Newsom reportedly said that he took Paramount\u2019s threat \u201cseriously.\u201d<\/p>\n Mayor Karen Bass has also pushed for a settlement<\/a>, which the Writers Guild of America criticized<\/a>, accusing Bass of joining \u201cParamount\u2019s pressure campaign,\u201d when jobs are at stake. <\/p>\n A Los Angeles County report estimated that 4,500 jobs would be lost<\/a> in Los Angeles if the merger goes through. <\/p>\n In recent weeks, key movie theater owners have scaled back their opposition, calling for talks to find a truce.<\/p>\n Bonta, in several interviews, has stressed the deal is about competition and antitrust law \u2014 not politics.<\/p>\n Paramount would have to sell businesses, what he calls \u201crobust structural remedies,\u201d<\/a> to make the deal work, Bonta said last week on CNBC. He views Ellison\u2019s pledge to make 30 movies a year post-merger as insufficient and unenforceable once the transaction closes.<\/p>\n Paramount last week demanded<\/a> that Bonta and the other states post a $1.88-billion bond if the case stretches to March, which is when the judge has scheduled the trial. Paramount must increase its payout to Warner shareholders through \u201cticking fees\u201d every quarter until the deal is complete. <\/p>\n The mediation talks are part of the judicial process.<\/p>\n During the CNBC interview Bonta criticized Paramount for raising issues that he doesn\u2019t see as central to his group\u2019s antitrust lawsuit<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe do prefer to resolve cases in the boardroom instead of the courtroom,\u201d Bonta told CNBC, a response to Democratic nominee for governor Xavier Becerra, who earlier this month said he, too, would like to see a settlement.<\/p>\n \u201cFor now we\u2019re bringing our case,\u201d Bonta said. \u201cI hope they can focus on the actual allegations we make in our complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n ![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787543652_496_.jpeg\")
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