{"id":8345,"date":"2026-09-03T18:13:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T18:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8345"},"modified":"2026-09-03T18:13:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T18:13:31","slug":"george-clooney-backs-mark-ruffalos-right-to-speak-freely-against-ellisons-paramount-warner-bros-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8345","title":{"rendered":"George Clooney backs Mark Ruffalo’s right ‘to speak freely’ against Ellisons, Paramount-Warner Bros. deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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George Clooney praised fellow movie star Mark Ruffalo as \u201ca good man\u201d and said he should have the \u201cability to speak freely,\u201d instead of facing accusations of antisemitism for criticizing Paramount\u2019s proposed $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery and its likely impact on people\u2019s jobs in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

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Ruffalo has faced a torrent of antisemitism claims after he denounced the proposed merger on Instagram last last month and pointed out that it\u2019s led by David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, and his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. The Marvel star, one of the most outspoken opponents of the deal, alleged that the Ellison family is complicit in the \u201cgenocide\u201d of Palestinians and is intent on \u201ccrushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Clooney came to Ruffalo\u2019s defense while speaking Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival, ahead of receiving the event\u2019s Golden Lion for lifetime achievement, The Guardian reported. While Clooney wasn\u2019t specifically asked to address the antisemitism accusations, he said it was \u201cridiculous\u201d that Ruffalo had come under attack for expressing a viewpoint.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support Mark Ruffalo\u2019s ability to speak freely,\u201d Clooney said, according to The Guardian. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to ban speech. I believe in free speech even when I completely disagree with it. That\u2019s important, right? In fact, it\u2019s part of how a democracy works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are going to be people tonight in the room that are going to disagree with most everything I say or stand for,\u201d Clooney continued. \u201cFair enough. That\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to be. We\u2019re supposed to argue these things out and come to a conclusion based on the information that we take in. \u2026 I will always support Mark Ruffalo\u2019s ability to speak freely. I like him. He\u2019s a good man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clooney also expressed his own concerns about the proposed merger leading to further consolidation in Hollywood. While acknowledging that the deal is complicated, he also said it doesn\u2019t necessarily make financial sense. A dozen states, including California, also are suing to block the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how this goes through,\u201d Clooney said. \u201cThere are so many issues involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI worry when a big company swallows up another company,\u201d Clooney continued. \u201cI always worry whenever big companies are consolidating because it means a lot of people are going to lose their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Clooney is the latest prominent figure in Hollywood and in the larger creative community \u2014 along with Jane Fonda, \u201cHacks\u201d star Hannah Einbinder and scores of Jewish artists \u2014 to defend Ruffalo, after a Paramount spokesperson told a Hollywood industry publication that the actor was relying on \u201cantisemitic tropes\u201d to criticize the deal, as the New York Daily News reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his Aug. 21 social media post, Ruffalo linked the Ellisons to Israel\u2019s war in Gaza by highlighting Oracle\u2019s decades-long business ties to the Israeli military. An Oracle spokesperson acknowledged to The Guardian that \u201csupporting Israel is in our DNA \u2014 even if it costs us clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruffalo posted a video of Oracle\u2019s executive vice chair discussing \u201cthe really profoundly scary technology\u201d that Oracle shared with Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Ruffalo said this technology \u201cwill most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world\u201d and \u201cone day be used on you.\u201d He also accused Oracle of helping to build \u201can apartheid system of oppression\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n

In response to the Paramount backlash, Ruffalo has continued to defend his criticism of the deal and Oracle\u2019s ties to the Israeli military, The Guardian reported. Earlier this week, more than 170 Jewish artists, academics and public figures also signed an open letter defending the actor, decrying \u201cthe weaponization\u201d of antisemitism claims and warning against attempts to silence criticism of Israel or the proposed merger.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers who have, in response to the outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo, a simple message to share with the world: Enough!\u201d wrote playwright and actor Wallace Shawn, filmmaker Joel Coen, playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner and scores of others. \u201cEnough with the false and dangerous weaponization of charges of antisemitism against those who are brave enough to point out the obvious: that the assault on the Palestinian people and the assault on our liberties at home are deeply interconnected, and there is nothing antisemitic about recognizing that fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter also amplified Ruffalo\u2019s contention that a merger could allow Oracle and the Ellison family to use the same technologies to employ AI, stifle creativity and eliminate thousands of jobs, the Daily News said.<\/p>\n

Far from being the \u201cmere combination of two huge multinational companies,\u201d the deal is \u201cpart of a larger project of tech-driven domination \u2026 a project Larry Ellison and his partners have never been shy about trumpeting \u2014 and one they themselves have explicitly linked to their support for the ongoing depredations being visited on the people of Palestine and their silencing of critics of those horrors,\u201d the letter continued. \u201cPointing out the crucial connections between what is happening in Gaza and what is happening in Hollywood is the exact opposite of antisemitism. It is, for us, the very essence of Jewish ethical duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After Ruffalo faced antisemitism claims for criticizing David and Larry Ellison’s business ties to Israel, Clooney said it was ‘ridiculous’ for the actor to be attacked for expressing a viewpoint. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\nGeorge Clooney backs Mark Ruffalo’s right ‘to speak freely’ against Ellisons, Paramount-Warner Bros. deal - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8345\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"George Clooney backs Mark Ruffalo’s right ‘to speak freely’ against Ellisons, Paramount-Warner Bros. deal - 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