{"id":469711,"date":"2026-09-20T04:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T04:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469711\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T04:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T04:54:08","slug":"mark-ruffalo-tells-rob-bonta-do-not-cave-settle-paramount-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469711\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Ruffalo Tells Rob Bonta ‘Do Not Cave’ Settle Paramount Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAmid reports<\/a> that Paramount<\/a> is in \u201cadvanced talks\u201d to settle the antitrust lawsuit<\/a> filed by 12 state attorneys general led by California against the company\u2019s takeover of Warner Bros.<\/a> Discovery, Mark Ruffalo<\/a> is urging Rob Bonta<\/a> to \u201cnot cave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDon\u2019t you dare @AGRobBonta, do not cave. 5,670 film makers put their necks on the line for you to fight this merger. Another 75,000+ and counting have signed to tell you not to concede in just 3 weeks,\u201d the actor wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cYou work for the people \u2014 the very people who will be hurt if you let this lousy deal filled with empty promises go forward.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> Friday that Paramount and the states are closing in on a deal to settle the lawsuit. <\/p>\n

\n\tRuffalo included a link to sign a petition in support of the merger being blocked. \u201cPlease sign to send a message to the AG\u2019s and Paramount. Reject the deal. The people don\u2019t want it!\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Task star has been very candid about his opposition to the merger; he testified against the merger to a Senate hearing and signed an open letter<\/a> alongside many actors also against Paramount\u2019s potential takeover of Warner Bros. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn an August Instagram post, he noted Oracle\u2019s (founded by Larry Ellison, the father to David Ellison) ties to the Israeli military, sharing a clip of former Oracle chief Safra Catz talking about Oracle\u2019s tech at the Israeli-American Council National Summit in 2024 as it related to Israel\u2019s war effort in Gaza. In the video, the executive spoke about \u201cprofoundly scary technologies\u201d the company built that could be deployed. Ruffalo detailed the war as a \u201cgenocide\u201d that \u201cwas built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA spokesperson for Paramount shared a statement<\/a> in response to Ruffalo, calling his remarks \u201cantisemitic.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,\u201d the statement read in part. \u201cWords like \u2018genocide\u2019 and \u2018apartheid,\u2019 applied to a corporate transaction, aren\u2019t just wrong \u2014 they\u2019re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe. This doesn\u2019t deserve a response in kind \u2014 and to be clear, we don\u2019t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Avengers actor refuted<\/a> the statement made by a Paramount rep, writing on X, \u201cThe accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tOn July 13, the states filed a lawsuit alleging that the merger would combine two of Hollywood\u2019s top five studios, which would lead to higher prices, less movies in theaters and a decrease in the variety and quality of content. \u201cThere is no debate here: This merger will snuff out competition, drive up prices, diminish content quality, and produce fewer movies and shows each year,\u201d said California Attorney General Bonta at a press conference at the time.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe filing of the suit led to a temporary pause<\/a> on the merger, ruled by U.S. District Judge Araceli Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn on July 20; that temporary restraining order was subsequently extended<\/a> on July 23. One day later, Paramount agreed to hold off on the acquisition<\/a> until the court makes a decision of whether or not the deal violates antitrust laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid reports that Paramount is in \u201cadvanced talks\u201d to settle the antitrust lawsuit filed by 12 state attorneys…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,91182,6336,2794,14955],"class_list":["post-469711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-mark-ruffalo","tag-paramount","tag-rob-bonta","tag-warner-bros"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}