Mark Ruffalo video called into the Senate antitrust subcommittee hearing on the risks of the looming merger between David Ellison’s Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, slamming the move as one “driven by greed.”
The Marvel star appeared before the Senate Wednesday to speak out against the new merger and the detriment it could cause to the entertainment industry. He stressed that the already declining market for work in Los Angeles entertainment jobs would worsen further with the merger and that the effects on news organizations would also be “devastating.”
“We do not have to watch ‘Citizen Kane’ or read ‘1984’ to understand that the concentrated oligarchic control this merger represents is a threat to free press, an informed populace and democracy itself,” Ruffalo said.
He added: “Don’t trust empty promises from billionaires driven by greed and corrosive ideology. Don’t trust that this new company will somehow make more films with less money and so much more debt.”
Watch full coverage of the hearing below:
The antitrust subcommittee hearing on Wednesday was organized by Sen. Cory Booker, the committee’s ranking member. Ruffalo said now was the time to “trust competition” rather than allow companies to gobble one another up.
Ruffalo was one of many Hollywood figures to sign a quickly circulating open letter from the Democracy Defenders Fund denouncing the merger and calling the subcommittee review and state attorneys general to raise efforts to block it.
By Wednesday afternoon, the list of supporters had ballooned to more than 3,000 in just two days. Some of the latest additions included Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, Miriam Margolyes, Scoot McNairy, Spencer Garrett, Gina Gershon, Jamie Bell, Dan Stevens, Sosie Bacon, Piper Curda, Kelen Coleman, Sarah Jeffery, Joely Fisher, Lisa Rinna, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Vince Gilligan, David Goyer, Phil Alden Robinson, Trey Parker, Yareli Arizmendi and Laura Karpman.
“We are deeply concerned by indications of support for this merger that prioritize the interests of a small group of powerful stakeholders over the broader public good,” the letter reads. “The integrity, independence, and diversity of our industry would be grievously compromised. Competition is essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy. So is thoughtful regulation and enforcement.”
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is barreling ahead with his company’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which he has said could close as early as this summer if it makes it through regulatory hurdles. While he has promised continued investment in Warner Bros. and an output of 30 films per year in theaters from the mega-studio, many remain wary that any kind of consolidation would negatively impact an already struggling film and TV business, and there is the looming specter of job losses as a result of the merger.
Watch Ruffalo’s entire speech during the Senate hearing above.
