Mark Ruffalo's Controversial Comments Ignite Hollywood Debate
After Page Six Hollywood reported yesterday on Mark Ruffalo’s “messy mea culpa” — and went behind the scenes of the open letter signed by 180 “Jewish artists, writers, and entertainers” backing the Marvel star — others have begun to rush to Ruffalo’s defense.
On Wednesday, George Clooney said during a Venice Film Festival press conference that he supports Ruffalo’s “ability to speak freely” and called the backlash “ridiculous.”
He continued: “We’re not going to ban speech. I believe in free speech even when I completely disagree with it. That’s important. In fact, it’s part of how democracy works.”
Also some 10 additional names signed the open letter supporting Ruffalo including Joaquin Phoenix and Jonathan Glazer.
Sources previously told Page Six Hollywood that Ruffalo had been looking to apologize for a pair of recent social media posts that cast Larry Ellison as a Lex Luther-esque billionaire oppressing Gazans and drew the condemnation of a broad swath of Jewish groups including the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League.
Over the past week, States United Democracy Center co-founder Norm Eisen was working closely with Ruffalo on how to thread the needle of signaling contrition about offending Jews, while remaining firm in his opposition to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger and (separately) Israel’s military response in Gaza, we reported. Insiders further said that Ruffalo asked Eisen to enlist ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who had called Ruffalo’s two posts “cynical and sickening.” (Eisen and Greenblatt had both worked in the Obama administration and are said to be friends.)
Another source says the ADL chief “couldn’t help” the four-time Oscar nominee, prompting Eisen to pivot to the open letter defending Ruffalo that hit Tuesday, and has been adding signatures since.
But the Ruffalo firestorm and the debate swirling around it isn’t expected to die down anytime soon. The actor will be front and center at the Toronto Film Festival, which kicks off on Sept. 10. Ruffalo is one of the stars of the opening night film, “Being Heumann,” and will find himself in front of plenty of microphones as he promotes the Apple film, which is expected to be an Oscar contender.
