According to a report, radical Marvel Spider-Man: Brand New Day star Mark Ruffalo’s antisemitic tirades against Paramount’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery in August helped torpedo California AG Rob Bonta’s lawsuit aimed at scotching the merger.
The far-left has been on a tirade since Monday when news broke that Paramount settled a lawsuit with the state’s radical, left-wing Attorney General. Hollywood critics are blasting Bonta as a “traitor” and a “coward” for settling the lawsuit and clearing the way for Paramount to complete its acquisition of Warners.
But according to reporter Charles Gasparino, it was the rabid anti-Israel tirades by actors like Mark Ruffalo that caused Bonta to cringe and flinch away from pressing on the with lawsuit.
Gasparino reports that when Ruffalo tried to turn the merger into an attack on Israel, “he made a fatal mistake,” according to the insiders the reporter interviewed.
Operatives inside the California AG’s office began shying away from the lawsuit when Ruffalo started “attacking the Ellisons because of Oracle’s contracts with Israel, absurdly suggesting the merger would promote genocide,” Gasparino said.
Instagram/markruffalo
Paramount quickly denounced Ruffalo’s obscene accusations, of course. But so did almost every major Jewish group inside and outside Hollywood.
Ruffalo denied accusations that his merger criticism were antisemitic. But the damage was already done.
As a result, “Many in Hollywood, including its large pro-Israel contingent, began alerting Newsom, Bass, and Becerra that Ruffalo — who Bonta said inspired his legal action – had stepped way over the line and that the pols needed to push for the deal to be approved.”
Gasparino added:
“Bonta became very reasonable this weekend. He knew for a fact that Larry picked up and left the state,” said one person familiar with the matter, pointing to Oracle’s move to Austin.
“David was serious about doing the same. But I can’t tell you how much that Ruffalo statement hurt Bonta’s effort. It made it seem like the guy inspiring his case hurt him with his fellow Dems after he made that comment.”
There were other considerations, too. Many Hollywood power players warned Bonta and Newsom that neither Paramount nor Warner Bros. would likely survive long term unless they were permitted to merge. Then Hollywood would lose two huge jobs providers, they warned.
Gasparino also noted that many of these highly placed insiders said that if both Paramount and Warners end up folding, there is no reason any part of the entertainment industry needs to stay in California at all.
Follow Warner Todd Huston Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston