George Clooney backs Mark Ruffalo’s ‘ability to speak freely’ amid Paramount-Warner Bros merger

VENICE, ITALY: George Clooney has extended his support to Mark Ruffalo after the latter spoke out against the proposed $111 billion Paramount takeover of Warner Bros Discovery.

The 65-year-old actor defended Ruffalo before accepting the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, September 2.

George Clooney backs Mark Ruffalo’s free speech

“I support Mark Ruffalo’s ability to speak freely. It’s ridiculous. 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,” Clooney said.

The ‘Ocean's Eleven’ star further noted that it's highly possible that many people won’t agree “with most everything I say or stand for. Fair enough. That’s how it’s supposed to be."

"We’re supposed to argue these things out and come to a conclusion based on the information that we take in,” before asserting, “I will always support Mark Ruffalo’s ability to speak freely. I like him. He’s a good man.”

George Clooney questions Paramount-Warner Bros merger

Clooney also shared that he did not understand how the merger would work out.

“I don’t see how the merger financially ends up making sense for the people who are trying to do it. We’ll see. I worry when a big company swallows up another company. I always worry whenever big companies are consolidating because it means a lot of people are going to lose their jobs,” the filmmaker stated.

Elsewhere during the interview, Clooney, a longtime Trump critic, was also questioned about US politics.

Setting a satirical tone, he began, “How do you see the state of the [country]?” before continuing, “There’s a great word, kakistocracy, which is a country run by the least qualified people. I think maybe we have a kakistocracy right now, but we’ll get through it.”

“We will have an election in November that should be a check and balance. And then in 2028, we will have a restoration of some normalcy,” Clooney added.

Mark Ruffalo blasts Paramount-Warner Bros merger

Clooney’s support for Ruffalo, 58, came after he slammed the Paramount-Warner Bros merger.

He had reportedly said, “This is the company that Larry Ellison is using to fund his son David’s Warner Bros acquisition. These ‘really profoundly scary technologies’ will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you.”