Hannah Einbinder has come out strongly in defense of Mark Ruffalo as the actor faces an accusation of “antisemitism” from Paramount Skydance over his opposition to the studio’s deal for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
Paramount accused Ruffalo of antisemitism after the actor drew links between Larry Ellison’s tech giant Oracle and the Israeli military. Larry Ellison is the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison and provided much of the funding that allowed David Ellison’s Skydance to merge with Paramount Global in 2025 and is also heavily involved in the financing of Paramount’s merger with WBD.
Over the weekend, Ruffalo fired back at Paramount, saying that the studio accusing him of antisemitism is “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.” “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 said in a viral X post that has now been viewed by 30 million users, retweeted over 163,000 times and liked over 861,000 times.
On Monday, Einbinder, the Emmy-winning Hacks actress, became one of the highest-profile Hollywood stars to publicly defend Ruffalo. The actress, a longtime supporter of Palestinian rights and a fierce critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, posted a lengthy message of support for Ruffalo on her Instagram Stories. In the message, Einbinder firstly thanked Ruffalo for drawing “a connection between the Ellisons providing military technology to Israel during a genocide and their unprecedented media takeover,” going on to say that the Paramount-WBD merger is “a dangerous consolidation of power that could ultimately be used against us.”
In their criticism of Ruffalo, the Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center said the actor “invoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant is a textbook case of obsession and demonization.”
Einbinder, who is Jewish, pushed back against such notions, writing in her message that “the idea that [Ruffalo] only said these things because the Ellisons are Jewish is LUDICROUS. Is it also antisemitic to point out that Safra Catz, the Oracle executive vice chair who boasted about the “profoundly scary technology” provided to the IDF, also sits on Paramount’s board? Or that Larry Ellison has been buying favor with Trump by donating tens of millions to his political efforts for years? Or that he once offered [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] a lucrative Oracle post?”
The Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma actress then clarified that, “This is criticism of RIGHT WING technofeudalist oligarchs who are in the process of carrying out the largest media acquisition in history. Period end of story. People are not too stupid to see these obvious connections. If you want to make it about the Ellisons being Jewish, then you are the one being antisemitic.”
Einbinder then centered the conversation back to Paramount’s merger with WBD and how it was bad for Hollywood workers. “As Mark has been saying for months, opposing this merger is also about fighting for the working class of Hollywood: the crews and other workers that we artists claim to care so much about, who could lose thousands of jobs if it goes through.”
She signed off her message with praise for Ruffalo. “All of us artists could stand to be more like Mark, willing to speak out for oppressed people everywhere, even when powerful people try to bully us into silence.”
Read Einbinder’s full message below:
I’m so grateful that Mark Ruffalo drew a connection between the Ellisons providing military technology to Israel during a genocide and their unprecedented media takeover—and pointed out that this is a dangerous consolidation of power that could ultimately be used against us.
The idea that he only said these things because the Ellisons are Jewish is LUDICROUS. Is it also antisemitic to point out that Safra Catz, the Oracle executive vice chair who boasted about the “profoundly scary technology” provided to the IDF, also sits on Paramount’s board? Or that Larry Ellison has been buying favor with Trump by donating tens of millions to his political efforts for years? Or that he once offered Netanyahu a lucrative Oracle post?
This is criticism of RIGHT WING technofeudalist oligarchs who are in the process of carrying out the largest media acquisition in history. Period end of story.
People are not too stupid to see these obvious connections. If you want to make it about the Ellisons being Jewish, then you are the one being antisemitic.
And i’ll say it till i’m blue in the face: every time zionists equate criticism of israel, its genocide, or anyone who supports it to antisemitism, they rob the word of all of its meaning. For those of us who ACTUALLY care about jewish safety, we want that word to mean something so that when jews are actually in danger it’s taken seriously.
And, as Mark has been saying for months, opposing this merger is also about fighting for the working class of Hollywood: the crews and other workers that we artists claim to care so much about, who could lose thousands of jobs if it goes through.
All of us artists could stand to be more like Mark, willing to speak out for oppressed people everywhere, even when powerful people try to bully us into silence. Visibility is a responsibility. Those of us with a platform need to use our voices before speaking out is outlawed altogether.
Read the full article here
