{"id":1018591,"date":"2026-08-23T06:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T06:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1018591\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T06:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T06:35:15","slug":"simon-wiesenthal-center-ceo-calls-out-mark-ruffalo-for-demonization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1018591\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Calls Out Mark Ruffalo For “Demonization”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJust hours after Mark Ruffalo<\/a> responded to Paramount<\/a>\u2018s accusations of antisemitism, the CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center<\/a> issued a statement to Deadline on the subject.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWords matter, and so does the willingness to draw a line when legitimate debate gives way to antisemitic tropes,\u201d wrote Jim Berk. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe commend Paramount for speaking clearly and refusing to allow prejudice to masquerade as political or corporate criticism. At a time when antisemitism is too often minimized, rationalized or repackaged in more socially acceptable language, this kind of moral clarity matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe corporate criticism to which Berk refers is Ruffalo\u2019s initial assertion<\/a> about Paramount and the finacial support it receives from CEO David Ellison\u2019s father, <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is the company that\u00a0Larry Ellison<\/a>\u00a0is using to fund his son David\u2019s Warner Bros acquisition,\u201d wrote Ruffalo alongside a clip of the tech company\u2019s executive vice chair Safra Catz discussing how they made some \u201creally profoundly scary technology\u201d available to the Israeli military amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. \u201cThese \u2018really profoundly scary technologies\u2019 will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you. Look how she revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued, \u201cLarry Ellison will own most of \u2018Para Bros\u2019. Larry is a classic Oligarch. They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn response, Paramount said<\/a> in part, \u201cWe are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,\u201d said a spokesperson. \u201cWords like \u2018genocide\u2019 and \u2018apartheid,\u2019 applied to a corporate transaction, aren\u2019t just wrong \u2014 they\u2019re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWiesenthal CEO Berk said Ruffalo was conflating two issues. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cInvoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant is a textbook case of obsession and demonization. Paramount was right to call it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDeadline has reached out to Ruffalo for comment and this post will be updated when one is received.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou can read Berk\u2019s full statement below.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWords matter, and so does the willingness to draw a line when legitimate debate gives way to antisemitic tropes.
\u00a0
We commend Paramount for speaking clearly and refusing to allow prejudice to masquerade as political or corporate criticism. At a time when antisemitism is too often minimized, rationalized or repackaged in more socially acceptable language, this kind of moral clarity matters.
\u00a0
Invoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant is a textbook case of obsession and demonization. Paramount was right to call it out.
\u00a0
More leaders and institutions should have the courage to call antisemitism what it is, regardless of who is spreading it.\u201d
\u00a0
\u2014 Jim Berk, CEO, Simon Wiesenthal Center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just hours after Mark Ruffalo responded to Paramount\u2018s accusations of antisemitism, the CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1018592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,71090,15329,169945,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1018591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-mark-ruffalo","tag-paramount","tag-simon-wiesenthal-center","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117143439309612143","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1018592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}