John Cusack backs Mark Ruffalo with three words after antisemitism row

Three words. That's all John Cusack needed to plant his flag in one of Hollywood's most combustible disputes of the year. 'Solidarity — well said,' the actor wrote on X, quote-posting Mark Ruffalo's blistering response to Paramount Skydance after the studio branded the Avengers star antisemitic.

The confrontation has its roots in Ruffalo's fierce opposition to Paramount Skydance's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that would hand the Ellison family — Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and his son, Paramount chairman David Ellison — control over CNN, HBO and Warner Bros.

Ruffalo lit the fuse when he shared footage of Oracle executive vice chair and Paramount board member Safra Catz speaking at the Israeli-American Council National Summit in 2024, in which she described technology Oracle had made available to Israel following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 as 'some really profoundly scary technology.' He used the terms 'genocide' and 'apartheid' while drawing a line between Oracle's government contracts and the proposed media merger.

Paramount's response was swift and pointed. In a statement first reported by Variety, the company said it was 'troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,' adding that words like genocide and apartheid, applied to a corporate transaction, were 'a bridge too far' that cheapened real suffering.

Ruffalo did not let that stand. In a lengthy statement posted to X on Saturday, 23 August, he called Paramount's accusation 'appalling and fundamentally dishonest.'

The actor went further, crediting Jewish friends, colleagues and loved ones with shaping his entire career. 'Everything I know about acting, activism, and humanism has been profoundly shaped by the Jewish friends, colleagues, and loved ones who have been integral and family throughout every point of my life,' he wrote.

He also returned to the substance of his concerns, warning that the merger carried 'real consequences for real people.' He pointed to the potential loss of livelihoods for thousands of families, threats to editorial independence, and what he described as foreign money whose influence on editorial decisions had never been fully explained to the public.

Cusack was not alone in backing the Avengers star. Actor Paul Walter Hauser posted on Instagram with characteristic bluntness, writing: 'If you think that Mark Ruffalo is antisemitic, you are an actual moron,' urging critics to 'focus on an actual harmful person' instead.

Both Cusack and Ruffalo are among the more than 5,600 film and television professionals who have signed an open letter opposing the acquisition, which was first published in April with over 1,000 names. Signatories argue the consolidation would mean fewer jobs, less creative opportunity and higher costs for audiences.

Not everyone in the industry is sympathetic to Ruffalo's position, however. The Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Creative Community for Peace and the LA Jewish Federation all rejected his defence and condemned his remarks, according to TheWrap.

The deal itself cleared a significant federal hurdle in June when the Justice Department closed an eight-month investigation, saying it was unlikely to harm competition. Under the terms announced in February, Paramount would pay $31 per Warner Bros. Discovery share, with $47 billion in new equity backed by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners. Paramount has said the combined company would release at least 30 films in cinemas each year.

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