Zach Woods Defends Mark Ruffalo With Satirical Antisemitism Joke

The Office star Zach Woods has publicly defended actor Mark Ruffalo after Ruffalo faced accusations of antisemitism over his criticism of Oracle’s ties to the Israeli military.

In an Instagram video, Woods used a lengthy, tongue-in-cheek story to mock the allegations against Ruffalo. Woods jokingly claimed that Ruffalo rejected several intentionally absurd movie ideas because he was antisemitic.

Woods described pitching an “Orthodox Hulk,” a Jewish version of the Marvel character who does not work on Saturdays and has a cardiologist brother. He then joked about a “Black and Jewish Panther” starring Sammy Davis Jr., before proposing an “Iron Man” character who works as an ironer and comes from the Lower East Side.

After Ruffalo’s fictional rejection of the ideas, Woods sarcastically concluded that he had discovered Ruffalo was “antisemite from tip to taint.”

Woods then emphasized the joke’s real target, noting that Ruffalo “advocates tirelessly on behalf of the disenfranchised and the defenseless” and is “a paragon of decency in a dark world.” He said the only explanation for Ruffalo rejecting his “three golden ideas” was antisemitism.

The video came after Ruffalo criticized Oracle over its technology ties to the Israeli government. Ruffalo accused the company of providing technology used by Israel in its military campaign in Gaza and described Israel’s actions as “genocide” and its system as “apartheid.”

Paramount subsequently accused Ruffalo of invoking “antisemitic tropes” in comments related to the company and its executives. In an Aug. 21 statement, a Paramount spokesperson said the company was “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.”

Ruffalo rejected the accusation in a statement the following day. He said that criticizing Israeli government policy, a military technology contract or corporate executives was not equivalent to hostility toward Jewish people.

“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo wrote, adding that his political views should not be interpreted as hostility toward Jewish people and that Jewish friends, colleagues and loved ones had profoundly influenced his life.

Ruffalo has also criticized Paramount’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros., arguing that the merger could have significant consequences for workers and the broader public.