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Why the Rays' Shane McClanahan vs. Orioles pitching matchup looks like a betting gift
I've talked about this before, but there are some games where the line just stands out to you. Normally, it is because you feel like the book is really off about something. In my experience, I've either been a huge winner because of this, or I temper my expectations because I feel like there is something I have to be missing that the books know. That's how I feel about today's game between the Rays and Orioles. The line is off, but maybe I'm missing something. The only way to find out is to throw some cash on it.
The Tampa Bay Rays are among the best teams in baseball, and they were a team that was predicted to be essentially a .500 team. As of right now, they own the American League East and the best record in the American League. They only need to hold up for another few weeks in order to get to the finish line. The Yankees are still chasing them, despite all the injuries, and the Red Sox are within a reasonable striking distance. They aren't playing great baseball at the moment, having lost three of the last five, but they are still in a good spot.
What is surprising to me about today's game is that Shane McClanahan is on the bump for the Rays, and they are only moderate favorites to beat the Orioles. For the season, McClanahan is 9-6 with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. Perhaps the reason is that he hasn't been great on the road this season, throwing to a 4.31 ERA in away games. It really isn't the result of home runs or hits. It seems that his control just isn't quite as good. He has 21 walks in 48 innings on the road, compared to 14 in 54 innings at home. The other reason is that he has allowed seven earned runs in 13.2 innings over three starts against the Orioles. However, his best start against them came on the road, when he allowed just three hits in 5.1 scoreless innings.
The Baltimore Orioles are a team we've spoken about frequently in these articles. They didn't get the season they were hoping for, but there is some reason for positivity. Their signing of Pete Alonso was great. Gunnar Henderson has shown good pop, even if he has struck out far too much. But I suppose the best thing to keep in mind is they got some decent returns for the players they traded away midseason. It isn't going to help them this year, but when you're already looking forward to next season, some positivity helps.
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Another bright spot in the dark year has been today's hurler, Brandon Young. For the season, Young is 9-3 with a 3.52 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. He has been solid at home this year with a 3.39 ERA. Young is a guy the Orioles probably will lean on next season as well. With his numbers, he can reasonably fit into the middle of their rotation and not have any real issues. He has faced Tampa once this season, it was his most recent start, and he allowed four earned runs (three homers) over four innings of work.
When I looked at the pitching matchup I just kind of scratched my head on why this wasn't a -165 or higher game. McClanahan doesn't go overly deep, but the Rays have one of the better bullpens in baseball. Sure, Young should make some adjustments and improve on his performance. However, McClanahan should as well. I just don't see why the Orioles are getting love. I'll temper my expectations a bit in case I'm missing something, but I'm taking the Rays because I think this line is a gift from the books.
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
Diamondbacks star spotted at casino during team's game after no-showing to stadium earlier in the week
Arizona Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte’s strange week took another turn on Friday.
Marte began his week by failing to show up to Fenway Park for the team’s game against the Boston Red Sox on Monday and was scratched from the lineup minutes before first pitch. He was then placed on the restricted list and seemingly had no contact with the team until Thursday.
On Thursday, Marte and team officials reportedly had a lengthy meeting, after which the Diamondbacks placed the 32-year-old on the injured list with left knee inflammation.
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On Friday, while the Diamondbacks were playing the Cincinnati Reds at Chase Field, Marte was spotted by fans gambling at Talking Stick Resort, a casino. In one video, Marte is shown at the tables while the Reds-Diamondbacks game was on a TV nearby.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was asked about Marte’s casino run after the team’s 9-0 win.
"He’s free to do whatever he wants," Lovullo told reporters postgame. "That’s how I look at it. As long as he wakes up tomorrow morning and posts, and gets his work done at Salt River, which I am certain he will, that’s all that matters to me right now."
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The reason for Marte’s absence is not yet known publicly. The Diamondbacks are one game back of the San Diego Padres for the final Wild Card spot in the National League and will be forced to battle without Marte for the foreseeable future.
Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel said there is no explanation for what is going on with Marte.
"For us to go where we want to go, we’ve got to have him here," Ginkel said before the game, according to The Athletic.
"It’s disappointing how the things that happened happened. There’s really no explanation for it."
Marte, who has spent the last 10 seasons with the Diamondbacks and is one of the best players in franchise history, is a key cog in the team’s lineup. In 118 games this year, he has a .249 batting average with 21 home runs and 67 RBIs.
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The Diamondbacks (68-61) will look to continue their postseason push when they play the Reds (61-68) in the second game of their three-game series on Saturday at 8:10 p.m. ET.
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Healthy athlete had no symptoms before mandatory heart screening revealed hidden defect
A high-school student-athlete with a potentially life-threatening heart defect had no symptoms and only learned of his condition through a screening required by Florida law.
The state’s Second Chance Act went into effect July 1 ahead of the 2026-2027 school year and requires students in grades 9 through 12 to undergo at least one electrocardiogram (ECG) screening the first time they participate in or try out for interscholastic athletics, with certain exceptions, affiliate FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported.
An ECG, also called an EKG, is a simple, noninvasive test that measures the heart’s electrical signals and can help identify irregular rhythms or other signs of heart trouble.
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For Cameron Crider, a sophomore football and basketball player at Calvary Christian High School in Clearwater — which requires ECGs for all student athletes, the screening led doctors to discover an atrial septal defect (ASD), a congenital heart defect involving an opening in the wall between the heart’s two upper chambers.
If a significant ASD is left untreated, the extra blood flow can strain the heart and lungs over time and may lead to complications such as pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure), heart failure, and, in some cases, stroke.
"I’ve been playing [sports] my whole life and didn’t notice anything, so I was surprised because I haven’t felt anything," Cameron told FOX 13.
"[Cam was] going to a three-hour football practice and then a two-hour basketball practice back-to-back, and never having fatigue or shortness of breath, or, you know, anything that you would think would be a warning sign," his mother, Laura Crider, told the station. "So, we were completely shocked."
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Crider is scheduled for surgery to fix the ASD in October and is expected to be able to play sports again next season.
The mandatory ECG is "a gift from God that has been given to us, truly," Laura Crider said.
"We were able to find this out in a doctor’s office with an explanation and a clear plan that says we can help you, and so many of these other parents who are advocating for these screenings, they had to find out through a tragedy," she continued.
Up to 80% of young athletes who suffer sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) — the leading cause of death during exercise — don’t have any warning symptoms prior to their arrest, Dr. Jonathan Drezner, MD, director of the University of Washington Medicine Center for Sports Cardiology, told Fox News Digital.
Because intense physical activity places additional stress on the heart, undetected heart conditions can become dangerous during sports, the American Heart Association (AHA) told Fox News Digital.
"Sudden cardiac arrest is not the only concern," the AHA said. "These conditions can also lead to other serious heart-related complications and may require monitoring, treatment, or restrictions on athletic participation to keep students safe."
The AHA does not currently recommend mandatory EKG screenings for every student athlete.
"A heart assessment that includes a review of a student's personal and family history along with a physical examination is the best way to identify serious heart conditions that can lead to cardiac events in student athletes," the AHA said. "If the comprehensive heart assessment raises concerns, health care professionals can order appropriate follow-up testing, such as an ECG, echocardiogram, heart monitor or other advanced imaging based on the suspected diagnosis."
The AHA and American College of Cardiology support what they say is an "evidence-based, layered approach to identify heart issues so they can be diagnosed, monitored and treated as early as possible."
According to Drezner, an ECG screening, when interpreted properly, is one of the best screening tools in medicine.
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"An ECG greatly increases our ability to detect conditions associated with SCA in the young," he said. "A standard sports physical by history and physical alone will miss 80-90% of kids with at-risk heart conditions. An ECG can suggest or detect about 80 percent of the conditions that put young persons at risk. It is not perfect, but it is far better than the standard sports physical."
Though healthy athletes and young people can have a potentially lethal heart condition and not know it, Drezner said chest pain, passing out and a racing heart are symptoms that should not be ignored.
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"Make sure your child feels well when they exercise," he advised. "If you have a family history of genetic heart conditions or SCA, you should bring this up with your child’s doctor. And get your child a proper heart screen with an ECG."
Detroit schools offer students up to $1,000 for perfect attendance as program expands
Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) paid students up to $1,000 for perfect attendance and is expanding the incentive program to middle schoolers after district officials say it successfully reduced chronic absenteeism.
Now in its second year, the "Perfect Attendance Pays" initiative targets the winter months—running from Jan. 5 to March 20 —when attendance historically dips across the district.
"DPSCD is continuing the Perfect Attendance Pays initiative for the 2026–27 school year for high school students and expanding it to include middle school students. At the middle school level, parents of eligible students with perfect attendance during each five-day cycle will receive a $50 gift card," a district spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Friday.
NUMBER OF K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS HAS DECLINED IN MORE THAN HALF OF STATES, REPORT INDICATES
District officials clarified that the financial incentives are not funded by taxpayers or standard state educational aid.
"The incentive is funded through interest generated through District funds awaiting to be used for facility projects. Federal and state revenue is not used to fund the incentive, nor is the incentive offered on fall or spring count days," the spokesperson added.
TEXAS’ LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICT SEES TEST SCORES SOAR AFTER STATE TAKEOVER DESPITE RACISM CLAIMS
Detroit Public Schools has been hit hard by a national chronic absenteeism epidemic, recording a 60.9% chronic absentee rate for the 2024–25 school year.
According to Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, director of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity and Research at Wayne State University, more than half of Detroit students regularly miss class. Lenhoff defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more of the school year—equivalent to 18 or more days in a standard 180-day calendar.
District officials told Fox News Digital that attendance metrics in high schools have improved since launching the incentive program.
"This initiative has already been proven with our students and families to reduce chronic absenteeism," the district spokesperson said.
"Specifically, high school chronic absenteeism declined by 7 percentage points two years ago when the incentive was first offered and another 2 percentage points last year. We also believe that the incentive has contributed to the District being named as being in the 90th percentile with reducing chronic absenteeism since the pandemic as compared to districts nationally, based on the Education Recovery Scorecard recently released by Harvard/Stanford."
District promotional materials and social media flyers detail how payouts work, noting that eligibility is calculated weekly across five-day cycles, with eligible high schoolers earning up to $100 per week in gift cards or cash equivalents toward the $1,000 season cap.
"Strong attendance matters: Students are three to five times more likely to be at and above grade level if they miss 18 or fewer days of school per year. Families, your support is essential. Help your student take advantage of District resources and remove barriers to consistent attendance," the district posted on Facebook.
School districts nationwide continue to grapple with severe post-pandemic attendance drops, prompting several urban systems to experiment with direct financial incentives, rideshare vouchers, and community outreach to bring students back to the classroom.
Crystal Hefner felt 'absolutely brainwashed' during Hugh Hefner marriage, reveals strict Playboy mansion rules
Crystal Hefner is reflecting on her complicated relationship with the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
The former Playboy Playmate, who was married to Hefner at the time of his death, shared details about her life behind the gates of the Playboy Mansion during an appearance on the "No One Asked Her" podcast with Billy Ray Cyrus' ex-wife, Firerose.
"I think I was absolutely brainwashed, but there was nothing out there that validated me," Crystal said.
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"So I just thought I was the crazy one because all of the media put Hef on such a pedestal that I'm like, 'OK, if they all see him as this larger-than-life amazing human, there must be something wrong with me."
"I would watch interviews of his from the past and there was this one where he was arguing with feminists and a woman said, 'Uh, let's see you parade out here with a bunny tail on and stuff.' And then she said, 'Calling women animals,' ... and he said, 'Women are animals; what else would they be?'"
She noted, "At that time, I was like siding with him and ... like, I'm going against myself while he keeps me in this dilapidated, gross home and I can't see my family."
Crystal, 40, recalled being under the watch of 70 employees during her time at the Playboy Mansion.
WATCH: HOLLY MADISON RECALLS PLAYBOY FOUNDER HUGH HEFNER'S ‘JEALOUS STREAK’
"I remember when I left, I mean, it took him dying for me to leave, but when I finally left, I didn't even know how to turn the headlights on in my car because I was always home before dark."
She added, "Movie night was at six, and that's an early time and I had to be there ... so it was kind of disguised — the coercive control, like, 'Oh, that's the time for movie night.' OK, that's the time for my curfew and my control."
Crystal began dating Hefner when she was 21 years old. The couple got engaged in 2010 when she was 24 and the Playboy founder was 84.
They called off their wedding just days before the ceremony in 2011 but later reconciled. Crystal and Hefner married in 2012 and remained together until his death in 2017. He was 91.
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She told Firerose that she struggled to leave the house after he died.
"I was so confused," she said. "In the media, he was old for so long, so you just, you see him as kind of immortal."
Crystal added, "I couldn't stay in the bedroom we stayed in, but I stayed in one bedroom of the house for like six weeks. I didn't leave."
Shortly after Hefner's death, Crystal told Fox News Digital she was thankful for her marriage to the late business mogul.
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"He taught me love. He taught me kindness. He gave me life. He really did," she explained. "He opened my mind, my world, to all of these opportunities and experiences I would have never in my lifetime been able to have."
In her 2024 memoir, "Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself," Crystal detailed more about her life post Playboy. Playboy didn’t respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about Crystal's book at the time.
"I think after leaving the [Playboy] mansion and being away for five years, I was in a lot of therapy," Crystal told Fox News Digital. "I realized that the mansion affected me more than I thought. I just wanted to tell the truth about my time there and hopefully help others."
She claimed their nearly five-year union was "emotionally abusive," and wrote that Hefner "could be charming" but also "cruel."
"Over a little bit of time, I gained a bit of weight, and he told me that I needed to tone up," Crystal said. "Then he started telling me what color nails I could have and couldn’t have. [I had to] wear more colorful shirts, wear ‘the flag,’ which means the Playboy logo on my body, somewhere on my shirt. I had to dye my roots, bleach my roots. If that was growing out, he would tap it and tell me to go fix it."
Looking back at their marriage, she said that her late husband, a leader in America’s sexual revolution, was a complicated figure.
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"When I was told what to wear, what to do and to lose weight, I thought, ‘I’m going to be better. I can do better,’" she said. "I don’t know why my mind went there at that time instead of ‘How dare you treat me this way?’ But I’m not sure what compelled me to protect him.
"Maybe, in a way, I felt sorry for him. Maybe, in a way, it was Stockholm syndrome, which I truly believe happened there because it was such a bubble. But I did feel compelled to protect him for some reason."
There's a difference between coaches who 'can't' win a national championship and coaches who 'haven't'
Ladies and gentlemen, college football is nearly upon us.
In just seven days' time, week zero will be gracing our television with all sorts of pigskin perfection, and one of the byproducts of having college football back in our lives is the myriad "offseason arguments" that plague our timelines on a near daily basis will be a thing of the past.
Unfortunately, one argument that is borderline evergreen and exists as both an offseason and in-season debate is whether certain coaches will ever win a national championship, and it has reared its ugly head on social media once again.
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I've seen fans from across the country making their claims that coaches like Dan Lanning and Steve Sarkisian "will never" or "can't" win a national title, and, as usual, a topic that requires a ton of nuance and context has been boiled down to a singular phrase.
"This coach will never win a natty because he hasn't won one yet."
It's insane, especially when you consider just the pure math that goes into this argument.
There were 138 FBS teams in 2025, and there was only one national champion.
ONE OF THESE EIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAMS WILL BE HOISTING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY IN 2026
Now take into account that there are only four active coaches in FBS that have won a national title (Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, and Curt Cignetti), and you realize how hard it is to actually win one.
I don't think it's fair to say guys like Sark and Lanning can't win a title, especially considering how young they are, relatively speaking.
They "can" win one, they just haven't done it yet.
As long as they keep going to the College Football Playoff and taking swings (and given the talent they have on their respective teams), they are bound to win one eventually.
There is a good chance they don't, that's just the nature of college football, but they are more than capable of doing so.
I mentioned Georgia's Kirby Smart as one of the few active national champions, but that obviously wasn't always the case.
Kirby was one of the former "can't win the big one" coaches, and for a while, plenty of rivals, and even Bulldog fans, thought that would end up being the case.
"He can't get over the hump."
"He chokes in big games."
"Nick Saban is his daddy."
And then he won it all. Twice.
Then all the fans and pundits who crowned Kirby as the coach who couldn't get it done moved onto the next target: Ohio State's Ryan Day.
The same arguments they made about Kirby they just shifted to Day, until he won it all two seasons ago.
The detractors didn't apologize, they just moved their sights to a different victim.
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Those victims are now Lanning and Sark, and they'll continue to be until either of them win the big one.
That's how this thing goes.
So enjoy college football season, and remember the difference between a coach who "can't" win a national championship and one who "hasn't" yet.
Seattle Seahawks lose wide receiver Jake Bobo to 'serious' knee injury during joint practice
The reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks were dealt a big blow on Friday.
Wide receiver Jake Bobo was carted off the field during the team’s joint practice with the Tennessee Titans, and head coach Mike Macdonald called it a "serious" injury.
"Our heart goes out to Jake Bobo," Macdonald told reporters. "It seems like it's going to be a serious knee (injury). We're going to get it imaged, but early returns are (that) it looks like it's a long-term injury. That's unfortunate."
The 28-year-old wide receiver got hurt along the sideline and needed help to get onto the cart. Players from both teams took a knee, while Macdonald said the team prayed for Bobo. His right leg was outstretched on the cart.
"It hurts, man," Sam Darnold said of Bobo’s injury. "He's one of those guys that he works, he talks a lot of stuff and he's kind of like (Devon Witherspoon) in a way, offensively. He brings the juice every single day, and he just does his job. So it sucks to lose Bobo but I know he's going to attack it and be better whenever he comes back."
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Bobo was entering his fourth season with the team after making the roster in 2023 as an undrafted rookie. In 45 career games, Bobo has 34 catches for 323 yards and three touchdowns.
While also serving as a solid depth receiving option, Bobo is an integral part of the Seahawks’ special teams. The Jacksonville Jaguars tried to pry Bobo away with a two-year, $5.5 million deal, but Bobo was a restricted free agent and the Seahawks matched the offer, keeping him in Seattle.
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"He's a beast, man," Macdonald said. "Just a great football player, a great Seahawk. Hopefully we reflected that in our investment in him. But we love him, we'll be there beside him as he recovers and we pray it's a speedy recovery. But we love him."
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MLW star Austin Aries offers blunt take on winning ahead of massive title defense: 'I'll do whatever it takes'
Austin Aries returned gold around his waist when he dethroned Blue Panther to capture the Major League Wrestling Openweight Championship at the company’s Lucha Apocalypto event, which was co-hosted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) earlier this year.
Aries told OutKick in a recent interview that he believes he’s still performing at a high level and the title reign has helped him come to a realization that, yes, taking a shortcut can lead to success.
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"Even at this stage in my career, I still think that I'm performing at a level that very few men can reach," Aries said. "But I think the one thing that works in my advantage is I've proven over my career I'll do whatever it takes to win. And if that means taking a little shortcut or a little misdirection or a thumb in the eye, so be it, because that's what I've realized.
"One of the biggest lies that was sold to me as a kid is that is that bad guys never win. Cheaters never win. What a load of crap that was. If you look around the world, most of the people in positions of wealth and power got there by cheating. Got there by taking advantage of somebody. Got there by being dishonest, right? And so, we tell kids like, ‘Oh, honesty is the best policy and cheaters never win.’ And then you grow up and you realize, ‘Wait a minute, that's a lie. It's actually the opposite.’ Right? If you look around the real world, everyone who's winning is doing it by taking a shortcut."
With the Openweight Championship, Aries wants to set the bar high.
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He’s done that already with a successful defense against Diego Hill. He’s also continued to showcase his talents in CMLL multiple times.
Saturday night, Aries walks into MLW "Fusion" with another goal – dispatching Místico and Averno in a three-way match with his title on the line. Místico called his shot last week and made a one-on-one match between Aries and Averno into the multi-man extravaganza.
Aries and Místico have some history as does the Lucha grappler with Averno.
"It's interesting. When you get three men in the mix, right, one-on-one, usually the strategy is pretty straightforward," he told OutKick. "You can't have a straightforward strategy when you're in a three-way. And so, the one thing I do know is that Místico and Averno, there's no love lost between those two. They've got some history with each other.
"So maybe I can leverage that and I can maybe get Averno to work with me a little bit as opposed to against me. But again, I've been saying Místico has been ducking me. He wanted to put the challenge out there and, put himself in this match. Let's do it."
MLW fans will get to see whether Aries retains his title on "Fusion," which can be seen on YouTube, beIN Sports and Veeps.
Paramount accuses Mark Ruffalo of invoking 'antisemitic tropes' in Warner Bros. Discovery merger dispute
Paramount pushed back Saturday after actor Mark Ruffalo invoked the Israel-Gaza conflict while attacking the Ellison family’s proposed Warner Bros. Discovery merger, accusing the Marvel star of injecting "antisemitic tropes" into what it described as a corporate dispute.
"[The company is] troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute," a spokesperson for the company said, according to Variety.
"Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong — they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe."
The spokesperson added that the company does not "tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone."
Curtis Houck, managing editor at the Media Research Center's NewsBusters, told Fox News Digital: "Paramount Skydance was absolutely right to respond to this actual, serious anti-Semitic smear," Houck said.
"The left lazily cries anti-Semitism when the right criticizes George Soros, but here it's absolutely warranted in the level of detail about Oracle seeming having mythical powers to team up with the world's only Jewish state to supposedly commit genocide. Because Paramount Skydance is the currently one of the bad guys in the eyes of the left, there's little chance Ruffalo will face sustained pushback from the liberal elitist press."
Paramount's comments came after Ruffalo took to Instagram to sound off on the potential merger that has caused a stir in some circles, including among several state attorneys general.
Ruffalo wrote of Oracle, "This is the company that Larry Ellison is using to fund his son David's Warner Bros acquisition."
Referencing reposted video remarks of Paramount board member Safra Catz appearing to tout the "really profoundly scary technologies" Oracle used to assist the Israeli military following the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Ruffalo continued:
"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. Look how 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," he added.
Ruffalo's post continued, accusing Larry Ellison of wielding outsized power through the proposed deal, branding the Oracle founder a "classic Oligarch" and alleging the merger would further consolidate wealth and influence among a small group of elites.
He also said the transaction would harm workers and the film industry, pointing to an ongoing lawsuit brought by 12 state attorneys general seeking to block it. Ruffalo alleged the merger could eliminate 4,500 filmmaking jobs and another 10,000 related positions, arguing such consolidations are typically bad for workers, consumers and the industries they come to dominate.
"Really profoundly Scary people," he said in closing.
Christian Toto, the editor of Hollywoodintoto.com and host of the Hollywood in Toto podcast, told Fox News Digital, "Mark Ruffalo went too far. It's that simple. He's gotten essentially a pass for some time now, blending his political activism with extreme pro-Palestinian thoughts. He kept pushing and pushing, and now Paramount, Inc. has had enough. The massive merger deal is the biggest news in Hollywood, which magnifies everything said around the subject"
Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Ruffalo regarding Paramount's response, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Paramount for additional comment.
Test your pop culture: From Hollywood to the Heartland
The Pop Culture Quiz is your weekly test of what’s making headlines and breaking the Internet, from the Heartland to Hollywood.
This week's quiz spotlights Hollywood getaways and surprising new beginnings.
Can you get all 5 questions right?
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