UPDATED TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL SIGNATURES
More than 180 Jewish figures from the entertainment industry and beyond have signed a letter in support of Mark Ruffalo over what it asserts is a “smear campaign” against the actor.
Among those supporting the letter — which claims that Ruffalo has been the subject of “spurious charges of antisemitism” — are Joaquin Phoenix, Jonathan Glazer, Joel Coen, Todd Haynes, Ilana Glazer, Hannah Einbinder, James Schamus, Emma Seligman, Tony Kushner, Jane Schoenbrun and Wallace Shawn.
The letter comes following a heated week in which Ruffalo has been at the center of a growing confrontation regarding the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. In a social media post on Aug. 21, the Marvel star attacked the deal over its potential consequences for Hollywood, but also accused the Ellison family of being complicit in the “genocide” against Palestinians, which he said “was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.” In the post, he highlighted Oracle’s ties to the Israeli military by including a video of its executive vice chair and Paramount board member Safra Catz outlining “really profoundly scary technologies” that the company had used to help it after the Oct. 7 terror attack.
In response, a Paramount spokesperson accused Ruffalo of invoking “antisemitic tropes” in “purported service of a business dispute.” Others also joined the debate, with both The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Creative Community for Peace condemning Ruffalo’s comments, while an industry group including Haim Saban, Teddy Schwarzman and Lawrence Bender wrote that it was “unacceptable to introduce Jews, anti-Zionism, or antisemitism into conversations about business transactions, simply because those involved are Jewish.” A spokesperson for Catz also responded by saying the technology she referenced “was in fact intended for use in rescuing hostages abducted during the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack.”
Ruffalo hit back, claiming that Paramount’s accusation that he was antisemitic was “appalling and fundamentally dishonest” adding: “Criticising the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticising Jewish people.” Others came to his defence too, with Einbinder — who is Jewish and has been outspoken in her support for Palestinian rights — thanking Ruffalo for drawing a “connection between the Ellisons providing military technology to Israel during a genocide and their unprecedented media takeover.” On Tuesday, Oscar-winning filmmaker and playwright Kenneth Lonergan shared a letter in support of Ruffalo in which he said the “notion that he is antisemitic is overtly preposterous, and the accusation itself a cynical and disgusting lie.”
The new letter signed by Jewish figures and published on Tuesday echoes the defence of Ruffalo, arguing against what it says are “false and dangerous weaponisation of charges of antisemitism.” But it also highlights the same links made by Ruffalo about the Paramount/Warner Bros. merger and the Ellison family’s connections with Israel.
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“Pointing out the crucial connections between what is happening in Gaza and what is happening in Hollywood is the exact opposite of antisemitism,” it claims. “It is, for us, the very essence of Jewish ethical duty.”
Alongside signing the letter, Glazer offered a further statement.
“Calling Mark Ruffalo antisemitic because he is questioning a massive corporate merger is not only absurd— it’s a dangerous way to shut down legitimate criticism,” she said. “Mark has consistently spoken out against antisemitism while also standing up for Palestinian rights and dignity for all people. It’s an American’s right to debate media consolidation and the dangers of monopolized corporate power without weaponizing antisemitism to bully people into silence.”
See the full letter and list of signatories below.
We 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! Enough with the false and dangerous weaponisation 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 recognising that fact.
The proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery is no mere combination of two huge multinational companies. Yes, it will destroy thousands upon thousands of livelihoods. Yes, it will further consolidate the oligarchic control of our media (witness the gutting of CBS News). Yes, it will strangle competition and creativity in film and television production and distribution.
But it will do all this and more as part of a larger project of tech-driven domination, a project Larry Ellison and his partners have never been shy about trumpeting — 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. We all saw this after their Trump-brokered takeover of TikTok — a takeover they openly proclaimed was in large part motivated by their desire to boost pro-Israel propaganda. Larry Ellison personally, with his astonishing purported $350 million in funding and pledges to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has been Blair’s major backer as Blair assumes an influential role in the Trump-concocted “Board of Peace” takeover of Gaza, a territory which has become an open-air laboratory for AI-driven killing and control technologies like the ones celebrated by former Oracle CEO (and current Oracle and Paramount board member) Safra Catz.
The AI road to WarnerMount runs through Gaza, and Ellison has often let us know the Orwellian world he has in store for us as he consolidates control over what we watch and how we watch it, knowing that as we watch he and his corrupt cohort will always be watching us: “Citizens will be on their best behaviour because we’re constantly recording and reporting.”
Pointing 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. According to a recent Washington Post poll, 61% of American Jews now agree that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza; and four in ten even agree that these crimes amount to genocide. Do those attacking Mark Ruffalo as an antisemite seriously believe that all these American Jews are antisemites too? Or that we don’t see the connection between, on the one hand, the criminal impunities that have led the US and Israel into unending disaster and, on the other, the oligarchic powerplays of the Musks, Ellisons, Thiels and others who are working to dismantle our democracy?
But the virulence and falseness of the slanders they direct towards their critics is evidence of the increasing weakness of their position, based as it is on innuendos. Today, more and more people of conscience are joining together, to loudly and univocally proclaim: The time is over for spurious charges of antisemitism to be trotted out, this time in the defense of war, oligarchy, and AI domination. That tired playbook has run its course.
We stand proudly with Mark Ruffalo, and with all decent people who are bravely rising and speaking truth to power.
Aaron Costa Ganis, Actor
Abbi Jacobson, Actor/Comedian
Alan Snitow, Filmmaker
Alex Winter, Actor/Filmmaker
Alison Klayman, Filmmaker
Alison Leiby, Writer/Comedian
Alissa Weiss, Rabbi
Allie Gross, Writer
Amos Goldberg, Holocaust Historian, Hebrew University
Amy Ziering, Filmmaker
Anat Matar, Snr. Lecturer (Ret.), Tel Aviv University
Andrea Weiss, Filmmaker
Andrue Kahn, Rabbi
Anjuli Kronheim Katz, Advocate
Anna Pollack, Director
Anthony Arnove, Writer/Producer
Ariel Friedlander, Artist
Ariel Wengroff, Artist
Atalia Omer, Professor, University of Notre Dame
Avi Shlaim, Professor (Em.), St Antony’s College
Ayelet Waldman, Author
Barry Trachtenberg, Professor, Wake Forest University
Bella Freud, Designer
Ben Korman, Producer
Ben Moser, Author
Ben Natan, Actor/Producer
Brian A. Kates, Editor
Bruce Cohen, Producer
Camille Lévy Sarfati, Author/Curator
Cat Davis, Rabbi
Chani Nicholas, Astrologer
Charlie Goldensohn, Strategist/Commentator
Charlotte Sheedy, Literary Agent
Cindi Leive, Journalist
Collier Meyerson, Writer
Craig Aaron, Journalist
Dana Kornberg, Assoc. Professor, UC Santa Barabra
Daniel Levy, Political Analyst
David Borenstien, Filmmaker
David Mivasair, Rabbi
David Vine, Author
David Wilson, Filmmaker
David Zirin, Writer
Deborah Eisenberg, Writer
Deborah Kaufman. Filmmaker
Deborah Shaffer, Filmmaker
Debra Winger, Actor
Deidre Fishel, Filmmaker
Dr. Mark Perlmutter, Physician
Einat Weizman, Filmmaker
Emily Kunstler, Filmmaker
Emma Seligman, Filmmaker
Erin Axelman, Filmmaker
Estee Chandler, Radio Host/Producer
Estelle Tarica, Professor, UC Berkeley
Ethan Sacks, Writer
Frances Fisher, Actor
Gabor Maté, Physician/Author
Gili Getz, Photographer
Gina Gershon, Actor
Ginny Suss, Producer
Hana Morgenstern, Assoc. Professor, Newnham College
Hannah Einbinder, Actor
Henry Bean, Screenwriter
Howard Rodman, Screenwriter
Hunter Abrams, Photographer
Idith Korman, Musician/Composer
Ilana Glazer, Actor/Writer/Director
Ilise Cohen, Scholar
Itamar Ziegler, Composer/Musician
James Renton, Professor, Edge Hill University
James Schamus, Filmmaker
James Wilson, Producer
Jamie Zelermeyer, Producer
Jane Schoenbrun, Filmmaker
Jason Kliot, Filmmaker
Jason Rosenberg, Public Health Advocate
Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Producer
Jenna Weiss-Berman, Producer
Jennifer L. Pozner, Author
Jeremiah Zagar, Director
Jeremy Yaches, Producer
Jesse Mechanic, Writer
Jill Goldman, Artist
Jillian Neal, Manager
Jo Firestone, Comedian/Actor
Joaquin Phoenix, Actor
Joel Beinin, Professor (Em.), Stanford University
Joel Coen, Filmmaker
Jon Reiss, Filmmaker
Jonathan Feingold, Professor, Boston University School of Law
Jonathan Glazer, Filmmaker
Jonathan Lethem, Writer
Josette Maskin, Musician
Karin Loevy, Professor, NYU School of Law
Kate Berlant, Actor
Kathy Wazana, Filmmaker
Katie Halper, Journalist
Lance Kramer, Producer
Larry Charles, Screenwriter/Director
Laura Kraftowitz, Writer
Leora Barish, Screenwriter
Lex Rofeberg, Rabbi
Libby Lenkinski, Producer
Linda Holtzman, Rabbi
Lindsay Beyerstein, Journalist
Lior Sternfeld, Assoc. Professor, Penn State University
Lisa Cholodenko, Filmmaker
Lonnie Kleinman, Rabbi
Liz Flahive, Screenwriter
Mara Hoffman, Artist
Marc Weiss, Filmmaker
Marianne Hirsch, Professor, Columbia University
Maris Kreizman, Writer
Mark LeVine, Professor, UC Irvine
Mati Shemoelof, Author/Poet
Matt Bernstein, Content Creator
Max Zev Reynolds, Rabbi
Meryl Crean, Rabbi
Michael Greif, Director
Michael J. Drexler, Assoc. Professor, Bucknell University
Michael Skolnik, Organizer
Michael Rothberg, Professor, UCLA
Miranda July, Filmmaker/Writer
Mneesha Gellman, Professor, Emerson College
Molly Crabapple, Author/Artist
Mordechai Liebling, Rabbi
Morgan Bassichis, Writer/Performer
Morgan Spector, Actor
Naomi Klein, Author/Professor
Nathan Thrall, Author
Nicole Morse, Educator
Nina Menkes, Filmmaker
Noa Avishag Schnall, Journalist
Orian Zakai, Assoc. Professor, George Washington University
Orli Matlow, Comedian
Peter Beinart, Journalist
Phyllis Bennis, Writer
Rachel Leah Jones, Filmmaker
Rain Phoenix, Musician
Raphael Greenberg, Professor (Em.), Tel Aviv University
Raz Segal, Assoc. Professor, Stockton University
Rebecca Vilkomerson, Author/Analyst
Rick Pearlstein, Author
Rinat Abastado, Rabbinic Student
Roee Rosen, Artist
Romy Soleimani, Make-up Artist
Rosanna Arquette, Actor/Director
Sai Koros, Student Rabbi
Sandi DuBowski, Filmmaker
Sarah Kunstler, Filmmaker
Sarah Schulman, Writer
Sarah Sherman, Comedian/Actor
Sarah Sophie Flicker, Artist
Shira Klein, Assoc. Professor, Chapman University
Sigal Primor, Artist
Simone Zimmerman, Podcast Host
Spencer Ackerman, Author
Steve Quester, Anti-Racism Coach
Steven Katz, Screenwriter
Susan Margolin, Filmmaker
Susan S. Lanser, Professor (Em.), Brandeis University
Tami Gold, Filmmaker
Tamir Sorek, Professor, Penn State University
Tavi Gevinson, Actor/Writer
Ted Hope, Filmmaker
Terri Ginsberg, Asst. Teaching Professor, Rutgers University
Tia Lessen, Filmmaker
Todd Haynes, Filmmaker
Tony Gerber, Filmmaker
Tony Kushner, Screenwriter/Playwright
Udi Aloni, Filmmaker
Udi Raz, Writer
V (formerly Eve Ensler), Playwright/Author
Vanessa Hope, Filmmaker
Vanessa Nunes, Physician
Wallace Shawn, Actor/Playwright
Wendy Ettinger, Filmmaker
Yael Bridge, Filmmaker
Yael Ronen, Director
Yoni Golijov, Filmmaker
Zach Woods, Filmmaker
Zachary Foster, Historian
Zachary Lochman, Professor, NYU
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