Paramount Calls ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Star Mark Ruffalo’s Latest Merger Comments ‘Antisemitic’ amid Ongoing Feud

Hollywood’s biggest corporate drama of the year has taken another sharp turn, with the war of words between Paramount Skydance and one of its most vocal celebrity critics escalating well beyond typical merger disputes. What began as opposition to a major studio acquisition has increasingly folded in geopolitics, accusations of prejudice, and a fight over language itself.

Mark Ruffalo has been one of the most consistent Hollywood voices speaking out against the proposed combination of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal backed financially by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose son David Ellison now runs Paramount. That opposition took a sharper turn this week when Ruffalo shared a resurfaced clip of Oracle executive vice chair Safra Catz, who also sits on Paramount’s board, discussing technology the company made available to the Israeli military following the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Paramount responded directly, calling Ruffalo’s characterization of the conflict “antisemitic.” In a lengthy statement, the company said, “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. This doesn’t deserve a response in kind — and to be clear, we don’t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.”

In the clip Ruffalo circulated, Catz can be heard describing “really profoundly scary technology” that Oracle made available to support Israel’s military effort. Ruffalo paired the video with his own commentary, writing that people should “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.”

He went further, tying that criticism directly to the pending merger, warning that the same technology “will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world” and referring to Larry Ellison as a “classic Oligarch.” Ruffalo has been one of the earliest and most outspoken Hollywood figures opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery combination since it was first proposed.

Beyond calling out the specific language Ruffalo used, Paramount’s statement framed the broader moment as an opportunity to de-escalate rather than continue trading accusations. “This brings us to a moment to lower the temperature, not raise it,” the company said. “We’d rather build than further engage in such rhetoric. This simply exposes the true motivation of some who have advocated opposition to this transaction.”

The statement also emphasized the company’s stance on inclusivity moving forward, adding that its “commitment to great content is matched by our commitment to acceptance – to every story, every storyteller, and no blacklists, no exceptions, for anyone.” That framing arrives amid separate reporting in recent months alleging that Paramount had been compiling an informal list of talent viewed as “overtly antisemitic,” following the company’s public rejection of an industry letter accusing Israel of “genocide and apartheid” against Palestinians.

This exchange is the latest chapter in a broader and increasingly tense standoff between Hollywood talent and Paramount’s new ownership under David Ellison. The proposed merger has drawn opposition on antitrust and industry-consolidation grounds from multiple corners of the entertainment world, but the dispute has increasingly become entangled with sharply divided views on the Israel-Gaza conflict itself.

With both sides showing no signs of backing down, the conversation around the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger continues to extend well beyond questions of market competition and studio consolidation.

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