Mark Ruffalo is not backing down. Even after California Attorney General Rob Bonta settled his lawsuit over the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger — a move that appears to clear the final obstacle for the deal to close — the actor took to Threads this week to restate his opposition in blunt terms, according to Breitbart.
Ruffalo, who has fought the merger since it was first announced, argued that combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios would harm both the people who work in the industry and the culture it produces.
“This merger will stifle creativity, weaken free speech, and cost people their jobs — it is a bad deal for this country and should never have been approved,” Ruffalo wrote in the post.
He went on to call the outcome “incredibly disappointing” for the “hundreds of thousands” who opposed the deal, but framed the loss as a single battle rather than the end of a campaign.
“This grassroots movement isn’t going to fade away and neither is our resolve,” he added.
In a separate message, Ruffalo widened the frame beyond the merger itself, casting the fight as part of a broader struggle against powerful financial interests. He described it as a battle against “corrupt oligarch billionaires trampling the interests of everyday people to line their own pockets” and urged supporters to stay engaged.
A merger years in the making
The Paramount-Warner Bros. combination would join two legacy studios with deep catalogs and long histories in film and television. Critics of the deal have raised concerns about consolidation in an industry that has already seen significant shrinkage, while supporters argue that scale is necessary to compete with streaming giants and global entertainment conglomerates.
Bonta’s lawsuit had been one of the remaining legal hurdles in the path of the transaction. With that case now settled, the deal looks positioned to move forward — a reality Ruffalo acknowledged even as he rejected it.
His Threads post is the latest in a series of public statements against the merger, and it arrives after the legal landscape shifted in a way that leaves opponents with few formal avenues left to block it.
A separate controversy
Ruffalo’s activism around the merger has unfolded alongside a public dispute with Paramount CEO David Ellison. According to Breitbart, Ellison accused the actor of antisemitism after Ruffalo alleged that Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison, were complicit in “genocide” against Palestinians because of their support for Israel.
Ruffalo denied the accusation forcefully.
“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” he said. “Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people. This critical and necessary dialogue is then dishonestly framed as being anti-Israel.”
He added that his positions stem from his own political beliefs and should not be read as hostility toward Jewish people, describing his personal and professional life as deeply shaped by Jewish friends, colleagues, and loved ones.
“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,” Ruffalo said.
The exchange with Ellison has added a personal dimension to a corporate fight that has mostly played out through regulatory filings, shareholder votes, and press statements. For Ruffalo, the two threads — the merger and the accusation against him — have become intertwined in his public commentary.
What happens now
With the California case resolved, the path for the merger appears clearer than at any point in the past year. That leaves opponents like Ruffalo with limited leverage: public pressure, consumer attention, and whatever regulatory scrutiny survives the settlement.
Ruffalo’s message suggests he intends to keep applying that pressure regardless of the deal’s legal status. Whether the movement he describes translates into anything beyond social media posts remains an open question, but his stated commitment — “we’re still in that fight” — signals he has no plans to quietly accept the outcome.
The actor’s post also reflects a broader frustration among merger critics who argue that the approval process moved ahead of public sentiment. That argument has not stopped the transaction from advancing, and with the lawsuit settled, the deal is expected to close.
For now, Ruffalo’s opposition stands as one of the more visible celebrity voices against the consolidation, even as the corporate machinery behind it appears to be moving past the objections.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/10/01/mark-ruffalo-continues-opposition-to-paramount-warner-bros-merger/