Two prominent Jewish advocacy groups, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Creative Community for Peace, have directly called out actor Mark Ruffalo for disseminating “antisemitic tropes.” Their intervention follows a rare statement from Paramount, which declared itself “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” specifically referencing Ruffalo’s social media activity.
Ruffalo’s contested posts on Instagram featured a year-old video clip of Safra Catz, a Jewish board member of Paramount Skydance. In text accompanying the clip, Ruffalo told his followers that it depicted Catz “revelling” in a “genocide” powered by tech company Oracle, widely understood as a tacit reference to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, emphasized that “Invoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant is a textbook case of obsession and demonization,” asserting that “Paramount was right to call it out.”
The actor’s strong commentary arose amid his vocal opposition to Paramount Skydance’s ongoing acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Ruffalo alleged that Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle and father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, was largely funding his son’s acquisition. Ruffalo specifically claimed Ellison Sr. committed up to $46.7 billion of the $111 billion deal, with additional significant funding from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. He further branded Ellison Sr. a “classic Oligarch,” accusing the Ellisons of “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world” and “crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world.”
After Paramount publicly condemned his post, Ruffalo swiftly responded on X, dismissing the accusation of antisemitism as “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.” However, Ari Engel, executive director of Creative Community for Peace, countered this, noting that “Intent does not erase impact.” Engel elaborated that “Repeatedly amplifying inflammatory falsehoods and rhetoric that mirrors historic antisemitic tropes helps normalize the violent anti-Jewish hatred we are seeing take hold once again around the world, regardless of how he chooses to describe his own motives.” Both organizations commended Paramount for “speaking clearly and refusing to allow prejudice to masquerade as political or corporate criticism,” signaling a boundary in corporate critique.
