Actor Mark Ruffalo protested the Paramount-Warner merger in an op-ed for the New York Times as the deal moves ahead.
In the op-ed — co-written with author Matt Stoller — the Avengers star claimed that while trying to obtain thousands of signatories to sign their “block the merger” open letter opposing the deal, they discovered that people were afraid of workplace retaliation.
“The most revealing thing about that letter wasn’t the people who signed. It was the people who didn’t. Not because they disagreed — because they were afraid,” Ruffalo wrote.
“There are many reasons to block this deal, but we now believe the most fundamental one is what we encountered when asking artists to use their voices: fear. A deep, ugly and pervasive fear of speaking out,” they added.
Ruffalo further asserted, “This merger will cause many harms in Hollywood, but one is already in effect: People are afraid to say what they think about their own industry.”
“When over 4,000 artists are willing to sign a letter encouraging state attorneys general to block the merger — and more are signing every day — that matters,” the two men continued.
“When elected leaders, from the California attorney general Rob Bonta to Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York, start speaking out, holding hearings and starting investigations, that matters, too,” they added.
Ruffalo also cited legal orders against media and tech companies, such as a federal judge blocking Nexstar’s merger with Tegna, and a jury ruling against Meta and Google in a social media trial involving youth addiction.
“The oligarchs are still in charge. But they are starting to lose their grip on power,” the actor and author declared in the op-ed, before urging collective action as a means to counter people’s fears.
“We’ve seen what happens when monopoly-leaning companies benefit from a fear that silences dissent,” they said. “But our growing coalition is demonstrating that when we don’t get stuck on the sidelines, don’t bow down to inevitability and join together to fight, we can win.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.