United Talent Agency, one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies, is apparently standing behind Mark Ruffalo after the Avengers franchise star’s latest antisemitic outburst, a stark departure from how the firm handled similar controversies involving two female actors.
Ruffalo, best known for playing the Hulk in Disney’s Marvel movies, stoked controversy this week after he criticized Paramount Skydance’s planned purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery. Ruffalo, on Instagram, referred to Paramount owner David Ellison and his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, as “oligarchs” and “inhuman forces.” He asserted that Oracle has provided “profoundly scary technologies” to Israel, and that it will also merge into “one of the largest media conglomerates in the world” via Paramount.
He also denounced an Israeli-American Paramount board member, former Oracle CEO Safra Catz, saying 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.”
Last year, Ruffalo reposted a tweet that claimed “Jewish troops will be looking for Muslims” in its fight against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Ruffalo’s connecting the Paramount-WBD merger—the source of enormous tension in the contracting entertainment industry—to conspiracy theories about Israel elicited a sharp rebuke from Paramount. In an extraordinary response for a major studio, Paramount, which is now controlled by the Ellisons, accused the actor of spreading “antisemitic tropes,” an allegation he vehemently denied, issuing a strident rebuttal on X that argued he should be able to criticize Israel without being called an antisemite.
Creative Community for Peace, a coalition of “prominent members of the entertainment community” who aim to “counter the rise of antisemitism,” accused Ruffalo of engaging in “antisemitic messaging” and asserted that “nobody in Hollywood should platform” Ruffalo until he retracts his latest remarks.
But UTA seems to be standing behind Ruffalo. The agency declined to comment to Page Six Hollywood about Creative Community for Peace’s calls to deplatform Ruffalo, the gossip sheet reported.
In contrast, UTA kicked actresses Susan Sarandon and Kate Beckinsale to the curb in November 2023 over their criticism of Israel. The agency dropped Sarandon, the star of Thelma & Louise, after she said at an anti-Israel rally that Jews who were fearful amid a rise in antisemitism were “getting a taste” of what it was like to be Muslim in the United States.
In April of this year, Beckinsale alleged that UTA and her agent dropped her as a client the same day as Sarandon after the Underworld star “liked” a social media post that accused Israel of genocide. Beckinsale cited UTA’s handling of Ruffalo’s various anti-Israel remarks and accused the agency of a sexist double standard.
“I guess having a penis in Hollywood really counts for a lot, because you’ve not been fired by the same agent that I had,” wrote Beckinsale.
Beckinsale did not name the UTA agent, but she, Ruffalo and Sarandon have all been represented by UTA partner Shani Rosenzweig. Rosenzweig, who did not respond to requests for comment, is listed as Ruffalo’s point agent at IMDb, the Hollywood trade journal.
Ruffalo is a bigger box office draw than either of the actresses. He has appeared in several Marvel superhero movies, including the mega-hit Spider-Man: Brand New Day, now in theatres. He is also the lead in the HBO series Task, a surprise hit about a priest-turned-FBI agent who tracks a drug gang. Task was supposed to be a limited series but has been renewed for a second season after its success, with Ruffalo set to return.
Another contrast between Ruffalo in August 2026 and Sarandon and Beckinsale in November 2023 (just a month after Oct. 7) is that sympathy for Israel has ebbed considerably on the American left, and Hollywood’s power structure, not known for its strong principles, may feel less pressure to act when a star—especially a high-earning star—makes comments offensive to Jews.
UTA’s silence so far on Ruffalo is especially notable given that many of the agency’s executives, including Rosenzweig, are vocal backers of Israel whose support for the Jewish state has made them targets of anti-Israel activists.
Reverse Canary Mission, an anti-Israel group, lists Rosenzweig in its “complicit in apartheid” database for signing onto a Creative Community for Peace letter on Oct. 12, 2023, in support of Israel after the Hamas terrorist attack days earlier. Sixteen other UTA employees in addition to Rosenzweig signed the letter.
UTA vice chairman Jay Sures has also been targeted by anti-Israel groups. Last year, a cadre of masked activists showed up outside Sures’s Brentwood home toting banners that stated “Jonathan Sures you will pay, until you see your final day,” and chanting “intifada revolution,” a popular call for the eradication of Israel.
There could be some indication that UTA is distancing itself from Ruffalo. UTA Speakers, the agency’s speakers bureau, recently removed Ruffalo’s speaker request page from its website.
UTA did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails seeking comment.
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