‘Manchester by the Sea’ Writer Kenneth Lonergan Defends Mark Ruffalo Against Antisemitism Accusations in a Fiery Letter

Mark Ruffalo has long been one of Hollywood’s most outspoken political voices, using his massive social media following to weigh in on everything from labor rights to foreign policy. That advocacy has now pulled him into one of the entertainment industry’s messier public disputes, tangled up with a pending multibillion-dollar media merger and accusations that have divided some of his closest peers.

The controversy traces back to an August 21 Instagram post, in which Ruffalo connected the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger to Israel’s war in Gaza. Paramount CEO David Ellison is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Ruffalo’s post pointed to Oracle’s ties to the Israeli military effort, describing the conflict as a “genocide” built on what he called “an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.” Paramount responded by saying it was troubled by what it characterized as antisemitic tropes being invoked in the dispute, a stance later echoed by groups including the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Creative Community for Peace.

That back-and-forth has now drawn in Oscar-winning filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan, a longtime friend of Ruffalo’s who worked with the actor on ‘You Can Count on Me’. Lonergan sent a letter directly addressing the antisemitism accusations, pushing back forcefully against the characterization even while making clear he doesn’t fully share Ruffalo’s political views on the broader conflict.

“The notion that he is antisemitic is overtly preposterous, and the accusation itself a cynical and disgusting lie,” Lonergan wrote, according to The Hollywood Reporter, adding that he disagrees profoundly with many of Ruffalo’s specific positions on the Middle East while still defending his friend’s character.

Lonergan’s letter arrives after a week of escalating public statements from multiple directions. An industry group called The Brigade, representing close to a thousand members and allies of the Jewish community in entertainment, released its own open letter accusing Ruffalo of invoking antisemitic tropes, signed by producers including Haim Saban, Lawrence Bender and Teddy Schwarzman. Ruffalo has firmly rejected that characterization himself, writing on X that the accusation is “appalling and fundamentally dishonest” and insisting that criticizing Israeli government policy or specific military technology contracts isn’t equivalent to hostility toward Jewish people.

The actor has also picked up support from other figures in the industry, including ‘Hacks’ star Hannah Einbinder and Jane Fonda, both of whom have publicly defended him against the antisemitism claims. What sets Lonergan’s letter apart from those other defenses is his explicit disagreement with much of Ruffalo’s underlying political stance, framing his support as one specifically about character and intent rather than shared ideology on the Israel-Gaza conflict itself.

The dispute unfolds against the backdrop of the still-pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which remains on hold as a federal judge weighs a lawsuit from a coalition of state attorneys general challenging the deal on antitrust grounds. Ruffalo has argued the merger itself would be damaging for the film industry, citing potential job losses and reduced competition, a separate strand of criticism that’s become increasingly entangled with the antisemitism controversy as the story has developed.

With representatives for Lonergan, Ruffalo and Paramount all declining to offer further comment beyond their existing statements, it remains unclear whether the dispute will cool down or continue pulling in additional voices from across Hollywood.

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