Actor Goes to War With Trump-Backed Hollywood Billionaire

Mark Ruffalo is refusing to back down after Paramount accused the outspoken Marvel star of invoking antisemitic tropes in his increasingly bitter fight against one of the biggest media deals in Hollywood.

The four-time Oscar nominee blasted the company’s accusations as “appalling and fundamentally dishonest” while doubling down on his opposition to Paramount Skydance’s attempted takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

At the center of the battle is Paramount CEO David Ellison, a Trump donor whose family has close ties to the president. Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, one of Donald Trump’s billionaire supporters.

Ruffalo argues that the proposed $111 billion merger deserves far more scrutiny because it could hand enormous influence over Hollywood and CNN to a politically connected media empire.

A dozen state attorneys general, including California’s, are already challenging the deal, while critics say the merger could potentially eliminate roughly 4,500 jobs.

But the fight turned deeply personal after Ruffalo raised questions about Oracle’s work with Israel and suggested technology connected to the company could eventually become part of a massive media conglomerate.

Ruffalo shared an Instagram video showing Oracle executive vice chair Safra Catz discussing what she called “really profoundly scary technologies” that Oracle supplied to Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks.

The actor then issued a blistering warning.

“These ‘really profoundly scary technologies’ will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you,” Ruffalo wrote.

He also accused Catz of celebrating technology connected to what he described as “a genocide” built on “an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.”

Those comments immediately triggered a furious response from Paramount.

The company said it was “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.”

Paramount also directly rejected Ruffalo’s use of the words “genocide” and “apartheid.”

“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 said in a statement first provided to The Wrap.

Paramount added that it does not tolerate prejudice “of any kind, against anyone.”

Ruffalo fired back Saturday, insisting criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, military technology contracts or corporate executives should not automatically be equated with hatred toward Jewish people.

“Criticizing 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,” Ruffalo wrote on X.

He accused his critics of deliberately blurring that distinction.

“This critical and necessary dialogue is then dishonestly framed as being anti-Israel,” he said.

Ruffalo also forcefully rejected any suggestion that his criticism was motivated by antisemitism.

“To be clear, my views come from my own political convictions and should never be interpreted as hostility toward Jewish people, for whom I have deep love and respect,” he wrote.

The actor said Jewish friends, colleagues and loved ones have played a major role throughout his life and shaped his views on acting, activism and humanism.

The controversy quickly spilled into MAGA circles.

Katie Miller, the wife of longtime Trump adviser Stephen Miller, accused Ruffalo on X of “inciting violence.”

Other conservative accounts called for the actor to be “blacklisted,” while some users vowed to boycott his movies.

Ruffalo, however, appears determined to keep fighting.

The actor, currently appearing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, argued that the proposed media merger goes far beyond an ordinary Hollywood business transaction.

“The merger has real consequences for real people, and for the entire country,” Ruffalo said.

He is now demanding a national security review before regulators allow the deal to proceed.

“Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for serious national security review, and regulators still haven’t given the public a real answer,” Ruffalo wrote.

“Until they do, the merger shouldn’t move forward.”

Ruffalo ended his statement by signaling that pressure from Paramount and Trump-aligned critics will not silence him.

“Now is the time to dive boldly into all these issues, not step back or concede,” he said.

The escalating feud has transformed an already controversial Hollywood takeover battle into a much larger political war involving Trump donors, corporate power, Israel, CNN and one of Hollywood’s most outspoken liberal stars.