Mark Ruffalo slammed Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman after the senator’s controversial interview with Jon Stewart.
The viral interview features a stumbling Fetterman asserting his belief that Democrats who criticize Israel shouldn’t be part of the Democratic Party, and saying he will always support ”whatever’s necessary” for Israel to “protect themselves.” Ruffalo clapped back on X, supporting Stewart’s pushback against the senator’s claims.
“Here’s the problem,” Ruffalo wrote, “When you put another country above the USA, when you are in the U.S. government, no matter what you say, you aren’t working for the American people. Go be a lobbyist. Register as a lobbyist for a foreign government and make your living that way, but don’t take a paycheck from the U.S. taxpayer. Get out of representing the people of the USA.”
Ruffalo has collected four Academy Award nominations (The Kids Are All Right, Foxcatcher, Spotlight, Poor Things) and is a vocal opponent of MAGA. The actor often uses social media and awards shows as platforms for advocacy. He publicly called for an end to Israel’s “systemic attacks” on Gaza hospitals and co-founded The Solutions Project, an environmental organization pushing for renewable energy.
His post tearing into Fetterman is just the latest time Ruffalo has roasted a politician; he called Donald Trump “the worst human being” on the Golden Globes red carpet and criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for committing “war crimes.”
In the interview, Stewart tried to clarify what Fetterman meant when he said, “I can’t ever turn my back to Israel.”
“I mean no disrespect on this, but that is not our country,” Stewart responded. “You’re saying that these candidates may have great ideas for the economy, they may want to do the exact same thing you want to do in terms of getting money out of politics, they may want to increase the social safety net, they want to change the balance of power from capital back to labor, but if they don’t agree with you on Israel, you don’t want them in your party.”
Stewart went on to rebut the senator’s claims that the Democratic Socialists of America should run for office under their “own banner.” The DSA is “just an organization,” Stewart corrected. “We have a two-party system.”...[The DSA is] like the Freedom Caucus in the Republican Party.”
The host also called out the senator for being “complimentary” towards Trump, after Fetterman said he opposed former Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner because he was accused of “roughing up his ex-girlfriends.” Platner withdrew from the race last month after he was accused of sexual assault.
“If your concern with Graham Platner is you didn’t think he was very nice to women, you’re ignoring an awful lot of evidence for the current president about his relationship with women,” Stewart said.
Ruffalo’s call for Fetterman to step down comes after the Oscar nominee publicly supported the senator in 2022, in Fetterman’s race against Mehmet Oz.
At the time, the actor defended Fetterman’s health amid scrutiny about his stroke recovery, drawing on his own experience with a brain tumor.
