Pro-Israel Advocacy Group Calls for Mark Ruffalo Boycott Over Ellison Family Remarks

Hollywood’s ongoing tug-of-war over the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger has produced no shortage of outspoken critics, but few have been as consistently vocal as Mark Ruffalo. The Oscar-nominated actor has spent months publicly opposing the deal, framing it as a threat to thousands of industry jobs and to editorial independence at outlets like CNN and HBO.

That opposition took a sharper turn last week, and it’s now drawing formal backlash from an advocacy organization within the entertainment industry itself. What started as criticism of a corporate merger has escalated into a broader dispute over language, intent and where the line sits between political critique and antisemitism.

Creative Community for Peace, a Hollywood-based pro-Israel advocacy group, is calling for a boycott of Ruffalo until he apologizes for comments the organization describes as antisemitic. The demand followed an Instagram post from Ruffalo in which he connected Larry and David Ellison’s ties to Oracle with what he called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, arguing the merger deserved scrutiny partly because of that connection.

CCFP Executive Director Ari Ingel didn’t hold back in his response to the post. “Mark Ruffalo’s rhetoric has increasingly crossed the line from criticism of Israel into extremist and antisemitic messaging,” Ingel said in a statement Saturday, adding that Ruffalo’s arguments against the merger increasingly blend hostility toward Israel with references to Jewish-associated wealth and media ownership.

Ingel’s statement also revisited Ruffalo’s history of commentary on Israel, noting the actor has supported boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against the country for nearly a decade. He specifically pointed back to 2021, when Ruffalo accused Israel of committing genocide before later apologizing and calling the claim inaccurate and inflammatory.

Ruffalo wasted little time responding publicly to the growing criticism, which also came from Paramount itself following his initial comments. “The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo wrote on X Saturday morning, directly rejecting the characterization of his remarks.

He drew a distinction between criticizing Israeli government policy and expressing hostility toward Jewish people as a whole, arguing that scrutiny of military technology contracts and executive leadership shouldn’t automatically be reframed as anti-Jewish sentiment. Ruffalo maintained that his objections stem from his own political convictions and said his views should never be interpreted as hostility toward Jewish people, for whom he expressed deep love and respect.

He also defended his broader campaign against the merger itself, arguing it carries real consequences for the country and for the livelihoods of thousands of workers connected to Warner Bros. Discovery’s properties. For Ruffalo, the scrutiny of Oracle’s business, which involves data collection, surveillance technology and government contracts, remains separate from any commentary about the Ellison family’s faith or heritage.

This isn’t the first time Ruffalo’s comments on Israel have generated controversy. In 2020, he described the relationship between Israel and Palestinians as a form of apartheid, and during the 2021 conflict, he called for sanctions on Israel before ultimately apologizing for using the term genocide.

Last year, he went further by joining Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, Javier Bardem and other actors in a pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions the group described as complicit in genocide and apartheid, an initiative organizers said targeted institutions rather than individual Israeli filmmakers. Paramount publicly opposed that boycott at the time, adding another layer to the studio’s now-public friction with the actor.

Paramount has said it does not intend to blacklist creators who oppose the merger, framing its commitment to open dialogue as unwavering regardless of a person’s position on the deal. Still, the dispute between Ruffalo and both Paramount and CCFP shows little sign of cooling, with both sides digging further into their positions as the merger conversation continues to play out publicly.

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