Mark Ruffalo has consistently opposed the $111 billion Paramount merger with Warner Bros., testifying against the combination at a Senate hearing, signing an open letter alongside hundreds of actors opposing the deal, and amplifying his message on social media consistently.
His latest message targeted Larry Ellison, Oracle founder with an estimated net worth of approximately $200 billion and father of Paramount chief executive David Ellison. Larry's billions constitute key backing to help his son close the merger of the two historic Hollywood studios.
Ruffalo's Instagram post highlighted Oracle's ties to the Israeli military, circulating a video of former Oracle chief executive Safra Catz promoting the company's technology at the 2024 National Summit of the Israeli-American Council related to Israel's war effort in Gaza. The executive spoke about "deeply terrifying technologies" the company had developed that could be deployed. The Marvel actor described the war as a "genocide" that "was built on a system of apartheid oppression driven by Oracle".
Ruffalo's implication for his audience was to link Oracle, the Ellisons and their media empire together, saying the moguls "are crushing workers and consolidating the world's wealth for their own concentrated power and dominance".
A Paramount spokesperson took the unusual step of issuing an extensive response to Ruffalo's comments, calling for lowering the temperature of the debate while branding the actor's observations as "antisemitic". "We are always concerned when antisemitic tropes are apparently invoked in service of a commercial dispute," the Paramount representative said. "Words like 'genocide' and 'apartheid', applied to a corporate transaction, are not only incorrect but go too far, and minimise the real suffering those words are meant to describe. This does not merit a like response, and to be clear, we do not tolerate prejudice against anyone".
The studio representative added that the moment demanded lowering the temperature, not raising it. Paramount urged judging the merger on its legal merits rather than underlying biases, asking for the same good faith it was extending: less rhetoric, more understanding.
Oracle, the Austin-based technology conglomerate, has increasingly become a major player in artificial intelligence in addition to being a shareholder in TikTok's US operations. The far-reaching applications of its technology have faced growing criticism from opponents of Israel's war in Gaza, as well as from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that has pressured companies doing business with Israel.
