In August, actor Mark Ruffalo faced accusations of antisemitism from Paramount Pictures. This wasn’t because Ruffalo said something detrimental against Jewish people; it was because he highlighted that the man who owns Paramount also owns Oracle — a tech company that has continued to work with Israel throughout its genocide.
Oracle owner, Larry Ellison, is Jewish, but Ruffalo’s criticisms didn’t focus on the man’s heritage but on his business dealings.
Ruffalo received an outpouring of support following the criticism he received, with the latest person to come to Ruffalo’s defence being Oscar-winning writer, Kenneth Lonergan.
Boy those dumb fucks really overplayed their hand by going after the nicest man in Hollywood https://t.co/JNpI8v3cmp
— jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) August 31, 2026
Mark Ruffalo gets Lonergan’s support
According to Nick Hern Books:
Kenneth Lonergan is an American film director, playwright and screenwriter. His plays include The Starry Messenger, Lobby Hero, This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery, and he wrote and directed the films You Can Count On Me, Margaret and Manchester by the Sea, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
In Lonergan’s message of support, what’s notable is he isn’t speaking as someone who’s in agreement with Ruffalo’s politics; he’s speaking as someone who opposes the weaponisation of antisemitism for political purposes.
He wrote:
Mark Ruffalo has been talking about Israel since long before the Gaza war. Apart from some routine social media ping-ponging, nobody serious I know of had accused him of antisemitism. Now Paramount has done just that, in the face of his sustained attacks on David Ellison and the upcoming Paramount merger.
While I hope I share Mark’s basic humanitarianism, and likewise deplore the conduct of the war as I understand it, I disagree profoundly with many of his positions on the Middle East, Israel, Gaza, and Iran’s constellation of fanatical Islamic fundamentalist proxies. I think we share an equally dim view of fanatical Messianic Zionist fundamentalism.
But Mark has been a dear friend for thirty years. The notion that he is antisemitic is overtly preposterous, and the accusation itself a cynical and disgusting lie. I wish the Simon Wiesenthal Center, at least, would review his remarks and their own response, and clarify where exactly they detect any antisemitism.
A similar indictment of Mark for his latest social media screed – a screed, mind you, as it was characterized this week by K.J. Yossman of Variety – comes from Ari Infel and the Creative Community for Peace. It is likewise evidence-free, scurrilous and shameful. Shame on its authors and signers – especially those few signatories who know Mark, have worked closely with him, and know better.
I have no problem with anybody who wants to contest Mark’s – or anyone’s – ideas. But like all such deflections, the tissue-paper accusations levied at him by his targets lead directly back to the soft places in their own positions, which they can’t or won’t defend by actually addressing what he has to say. It’s an old trick, and a sorry one.
I would mention my own ethnic credentials, if only to establish my right or lack thereof to be commenting on these matters at all. But it offends me to do it. So if anybody cares, they can look it up.
Kenneth Lonergan
Lonergan isn’t the only one speaking out either as US actor Zach Woods lent his voice to the situation.
‘The Office’ star Zach Woods defended Mark Ruffalo against charges of antisemitism in a new Instagram video. https://t.co/aSkiL1Y5WE
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) August 31, 2026
The flip side
The Mark Ruffalo situation is an example of what happens when a celebrity speaks out against Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. The flip side of this is that ardent Israel-backers like Bari Weiss keep enjoying endless promotions.
It should be a scandal that a major American news network is now led by an overt, hands-on, undisguised Islamophobe but… it isn’t. Islamophobia has been normalized in our media, and in our country. Shamefully. https://t.co/vmsp4WtUa1
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 1, 2026
you have 1 minute to provide a non-racist explanation for this headline https://t.co/NsJ1E39xLV
— matt bernstein (@mattxiv) August 31, 2026
Much like Paramount and Oracle, CBS is also owned by billionaire Larry Ellison and this is the problem with media conglomeration — a problem that Ruffalo was speaking out against in the first place.
Featured image via Getty Images
By Willem Moore
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