{"id":69911,"date":"2026-08-24T21:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/69911\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:29:17","slug":"californias-attorney-general-cancels-planned-discussions-about-the-paramount-warner-bros-discovery-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/69911\/","title":{"rendered":"California’s attorney general cancels planned discussions about the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta abruptly pulled out of a planned mediation session Monday to seek a resolution to the antitrust lawsuit that has stalled<\/a> Paramount Skydance\u2019s blockbuster $111-billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n

Bonta, in a statement, accused Paramount of leaking and misrepresenting information the two sides had discussed during a preliminary session Friday. He said Paramount was \u201cplaying games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representatives of Bonta and Paramount Skydance came together late last week to set ground rules for Monday\u2019s meeting, which was to involve Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison. <\/p>\n

One of the rules had been confidentiality of the mediation process. But, over the weekend, a stream of news stories contained information about the proposed summit. <\/p>\n

Late Sunday, the Wall Street Journal published<\/a> deal points that it said Bonta was preparing to offer Paramount in exchange for dropping his lawsuit. Terms included asking the company to sell some basic cable TV channels because the merged entity would control more than 50, including CNN, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, HGTV and MTV.<\/p>\n

Bonta also was going to call for keeping the Warner Bros. film studio separate from Paramount Pictures \u2014 which would be a nonstarter for Ellison, who wants to create a Hollywood super-studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of the settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith,\u201d Bonta said on Monday, noting: \u201cI have pulled down this meeting.\u201d <\/p>\n

Paramount denied that it was leaking information.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we have assured the Attorney General\u2019s office, Paramount has not been the source of the leaks of any of our confidential discussions with the AG\u2019s office,\u201d Paramount said in a statement. \u201cWe remain hopeful and stand ready to continue good faith discussions to resolve the Attorneys General suit and move forward with our plans for increased competition and increased output to the benefit of the talent and entertainment workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

No other talks have been scheduled. <\/p>\n

The fight with Bonta has grown increasingly ugly after Ellison threatened to pull Paramount \u2014 a fixture on Melrose Avenue \u2014 out of California. Tennessee has been wooing Paramount Ellison\u2019s father, Larry Ellison, two years ago announced he would move his software behemoth Oracle to Nashville.<\/p>\n

Several prominent Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Xavier Becerra, the Democratic Party\u2019s nominee for governor, have called on Bonta to settle the lawsuit rather than go to trial next spring.<\/p>\n

By Monday, Bonta was facing criticism among some advocacy groups for allegedly failing to protect Hollywood\u2019s Jewish leaders from antisemitism.<\/p>\n

Bonta didn\u2019t entirely close the door on mediation, which had been ordered by the judge in the antitrust case.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tensions crackled after Paramount on Friday went after actor Mark Ruffalo \u2014 a prominent deal critic \u2014 to accuse him of injecting \u201cantisemitic tropes\u201d into his campaign to derail the industry-reshaping deal.<\/p>\n

Leaders of prominent Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League, quickly came to Paramount\u2019s defense, scolding the Emmy-winning actor best known for playing the Hulk and for being an outspoken political progressive.<\/p>\n

Ruffalo had recirculated a two-year-old video clip<\/a> of Safra Catz, Oracle\u2019s former chief executive and a current Paramount board member. During an Israeli-American Council National Summit conference, she said she couldn\u2019t discuss Oracle\u2019s work with Israel\u2019s military, but \u201cwe have some profoundly scary technology at Oracle and we wanted to make sure that it was available\u201d to Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks by Hamas.<\/p>\n

Ruffalo, in his post, described the war in Gaza as a \u201cgenocide\u201d that \u201cwas built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.\u201d <\/p>\n

Paramount said: \u201cWords like \u2018genocide\u2019 and \u2018apartheid,\u2019 applied to a corporate transaction, aren\u2019t just wrong \u2014 they\u2019re a bridge too far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Goldfeder, head of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, lashed out at Bonta on Sunday and suggested California\u2019s top law enforcement official was doing Ruffalo\u2019s bidding by filing the antitrust lawsuit against Paramount and Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour friend @MarkRuffalo <\/a>said the quiet part out loud. His campaign against the Jewish Ellisons is about Israel, \u2018genocide,\u2019 and \u2018apartheid\u2019,\u201d Goldfeder wrote in a message on X directed<\/a> at Bonta.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you hear that too before you sued?\u201d Goldfeder asked Bonta \u2014 a reference to a Feb. 27 message by the state attorney general, who at the time was responding to Ruffalo\u2019s dismay after Paramount won the bidding war for Warner Bros., besting Netflix.<\/p>\n

In that nearly six-month-old post, Bonta wrote on X: \u201cMark, I hear you. I\u2019m in conversation with my AG colleagues<\/a> about Paramount\/Warner Bros. As the epicenter of the entertainment industry, California has a special interest in protecting competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonta and 11 other state attorney generals went on to sue, claiming Ellison\u2019s merger violates U.S. antitrust law.<\/p>\n

By Monday, some Jewish leaders questioned Bonta\u2019s commitment to fighting antisemitism \u2014 or protecting Hollywood\u2019s Jewish leaders, including the Ellisons. <\/p>\n

\u201cAttorney General Bonta told Mark Ruffalo that he hears him and said California has a \u2018special interest in protecting competition\u2019 because we are the epicenter of the entertainment industry,\u201d Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and chief executive of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe agree that California has a special obligation to protect Hollywood, but not only from anticompetitive conduct. It must also protect the people who power this industry from antisemitism and every form of hate,\u201d Farkas said.<\/p>\n

The rabbi added that Bonta\u2019s \u201crecord with Jewish Californians remains mixed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some important moments, he has failed to stand up with the clarity and urgency our community deserved,\u201d Farkas said. \u201cThis is why it is so important that Bonta clarify what \u2018Mark, I hear you\u2019 means. Hearing legitimate antitrust concerns cannot mean excusing rhetoric that invokes age-old tropes about Jewish wealth, media control and sinister power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonta\u2019s office declined to comment on the claims.<\/p>\n

Ruffalo defended himself over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,\u201d Ruffalo wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cCriticizing 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when the mediation sessions between the state attorneys general and Ellison will be rescheduled. The judge in the case has scheduled a hearing in late September. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs I have said before, generally for all cases, I prefer to resolve disputes in the boardroom, not the courtroom,\u201d Bonta said in his statement. \u201cAs I\u2019ve also said, if the opposing party in litigation wants to meet in good faith to make a sincere effort to resolve the case, we\u2019ll meet.\u201d<\/p>\n