George Clooney came to Mark Ruffalo‘s defense amid controversy stemming from Paramount’s divisive attempt to merge with Warner Bros.
“I support Mark Ruffalo’s ability to speak freely,” Clooney, 65, said during a Wednesday, September 2, conference at Venice Film Festival.
Clooney referred to the recent drama surrounding Ruffalo, 58, as “ridiculous,” adding, “We’re not going to ban speech. I believe in free speech even when I completely disagree with it. That’s important. In fact, it’s part of how democracy works.”
When asked for his own thoughts on the pending merger, Clooney said it’s “a complicated thing.” He also noted that he “doesn’t know how it works out.”
“I don’t see how the merger financially ends up making sense for the people who are trying to do it. We’ll see. I worry when a big company swallows up another company,” he added. “I always worry whenever big companies are consolidating because it means a lot of people are going to lose their jobs.”
Ruffalo has been outspoken against Paramount Skydance’s proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery after the deal was announced in February.
Paramount Skydance chairman David Ellison is the son of Oracle cofounder and prominent President Donald Trump ally Larry Ellison. (David, 43, and Larry, 82, became co-owners of Paramount Skydance following a 2025 merger.)
In August, Ruffalo condemned a clip of Safra Catz — Oracle’s executive vice chair and a Paramount board member — speaking about “profoundly scary technologies” that Oracle shared with the Israeli government following terror attacks in October 2023.
Paramount Skydance reacted by alleging that Ruffalo could be antisemitic.
“We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement last month. “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.”
The company continued: “We understand people feel strongly about this merger and are hopeful and expect that it will be judged based on the legal merits, not underlying bias. We’re asking for the same good faith we’re extending: less rhetoric, more understanding. Paramount’s future is being written for everyone who wants to make and watch great stories.”
Ruffalo, for his part, strongly rejected the insinuation that opposing Paramount Skydance’s executives’ ties to the Israeli government means he is “antisemetic.”
“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” he wrote via X. “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. This critical and necessary dialogue is then dishonestly framed as being anti-Israel.”
He added: “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. Everything I know about acting, activism and humanism has been profoundly shaped by the Jewish friends, colleagues and loved ones who have been integral and family throughout every point of my life.”
In addition to Clooney, Ruffalo has received public support from Jane Fonda, John Cusack and more of his peers.
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