Mark Ruffalo Condemns Approved Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

Mark Ruffalo has attacked the approved Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, declaring in a statement on Wednesday that the deal "should never have been approved."

The merger received approval on Wednesday and is tentatively set to close next week. Ruffalo posted his response on Threads the same day.

"This merger will stifle creativity, weaken free speech, and cost people their jobs — it is a bad deal for this country and should never have been approved," Ruffalo wrote. "This is an incredibly disappointing outcome for the hundreds of thousands of us who stood up to block it, but it's also not the end. This grassroots movement isn't going to fade away and neither is our resolve."

The actor framed the merger battle as part of a broader political struggle. "This was never about just one merger: this was about fighting back against corrupt oligarch billionaires trampling the interests of everyday people to line their own pockets," he wrote. "We're still in that fight. Join us."

Ruffalo has opposed the deal for months. Earlier in the month, he publicly pressured California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his coalition of 11 other state attorneys general not to settle their lawsuit against Paramount Skydance — a settlement that would effectively allow David Ellison to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.

"Don't you dare, [Rob Bonta], do not cave," Ruffalo wrote on X. "5,670 filmmakers put their necks on the line for you to fight this merger. Another 75,000+ and counting have signed to tell you not to concede in just 3 weeks. You work for the people — the very people who will be hurt if you let this lousy deal filled with empty promises go forward. Please sign to send a message to the AGs and Paramount. Reject the deal. The people don't want it!"

The numbers Ruffalo cited — 5,670 filmmakers and more than 75,000 petition signatories gathered in three weeks — point to the scale of the organized resistance that formed against the consolidation. That coalition now faces its defining test as the deal moves toward closing.

With approval granted and the close expected next week, Ruffalo's pledge that the grassroots movement "isn't going to fade away" signals that opposition to media consolidation will continue beyond this merger.