Ilana Glazer, Naomi Klein, Joel Cohen and more sign open letter in support of Mark Ruffalo following "outrageous smear campaign"

Over 170 Jewish artists and academics, including Ilana Glazer, Naomi Klein, Joel Cohen, Todd Haynes, Hannah Einbinder and Miranda July have singed an open letter supporting Mark Ruffalo after he criticized Paramount.

The actor was accused of “invoking anti semitic tropes” following his criticism of Paramount Skydance, the media company owned by David Ellison, a Donald Trump ally, and its $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).

Taking to social media last week, Ruffalo pointed out to the links between Paramount Skydance, and Oracle, the technology company owned by Ellison’s father, Larry, known to supply software to the Israel Defense Forces and government.

The comment prompted Paramount to say it was “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.”

Titled “Enough!”, the open letter is signed by “Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers who have,” and dismisses the accusations and “outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo.”

The letter also takes a wider stand against “the false and dangerous weaponization 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.”

In his original post, Ruffalo had accused Larry Ellison of “using Oracle to fund his son David’s Warner Bros acquisition” and linked the software deals with the IDF to the merger between the two studios. He also urged his followers to oppose the merger, describing it as “catastrophic” for the entertainment industry.

The letter went on to confirm this argument, writing: “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 stand proudly with Mark Ruffalo, and with all decent people who are bravely rising and speaking truth to power.”

Read the full statement here.