While many Hollywood celebrities have remained silent since October 7, Mark Ruffalo was one of the few who expressed his staunch support for Palestine long before the #blockout2024 movement took off and All Eyes On Rafah began trending.
So it was a bit of a change of pace to see him take responsibility for his inadvertent criticism of Muslims. While Ruffalo’s heart may be in the right place, his latest post on X on July 2nd, in which he criticized the Republican Party in the run-up to the US presidential election, drew immediate ire from his Muslim followers.
Project 2025 is not a game, it is white Christian nationalism. It is Sharia law by “Christian” crazy people who are not Christian at all but want to control every aspect of your life through their equal and inclusive interpretation of Christ. https://t.co/F1sdIpkovi
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) July 1, 2024
“Project 2025 is not a game; it’s white Christian nationalism,” Ruffalo began.
Project 2025 is the name given to American conservatives’ attempt to remake the federal government in their image. It is a collection of policy shift proposals for how Republican candidate Donald Trump, if he wins the November election, could reorganize the federal government to carry out his right-wing agenda. Ruffalo’s public denunciation of Project 2025 should have earned him a few points with his Muslim followers. But while his heart may have been in the right place, his next few words washed it all away.
Ruffalo added, “It's Sharia law by 'Christian' lunatics who are not Christians at all, but who interpret the equal, inclusive, and kind teachings of Christ in a narrow and exclusive way to control every aspect of your life.”
Ruffalo, who has already equated Islamic law with “crazy” Christians, has called Project 2025 “Trump’s American Taliban.” “Don’t be fooled by the extremist and perverted ideology of Project 2025,” he added. “Trump is bringing that to all of our lives. Abortion, LGBTQIA+ rights, free speech, free religion, free education, equality across race and gender. Forced births, forced religion. This is Trump’s American Taliban.”
Within minutes of posting, Ruffalo’s analogy was torn apart by X, with his followers pointing out that Sharia law is not a blanket term for evil as it is portrayed in the Western world. “I want to let you know that Sharia law is not extremist nationalism, it is Islamic law, like the Bible,” one user wrote. “This term has been propagated to incite fear and hatred against Muslims. This needs to stop. We have been demonized, dehumanized, and persecuted enough.”
I want to make sure you know
“Sharia law” is Islamic law, not extremist nationalism, but the Bible. All Muslims follow Sharia when they believe in Allah (SWT) as the only God, pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, do Hajj, and give to the poor. This term…— Attymzk (@attymzk) July 1, 2024
In the same vein, another commenter wrote, “I agreed with everything you said until you mentioned Sharia law. It was hateful and Islamophobic, just as you intended. In an age of knowledge and understanding, we should be more aware of the tools that are designed to divide.”
Thank you for speaking up about this issue. I agree with everything you said. @markruffalo Until you spoke of Sharia law, if that was your intention, it was to incite hatred and Islamophobia. In this new age of knowledge and understanding, we must be more aware of the tools designed to divide.
— yasmeenrobertsVO 🍉 (@umpteenthandx) July 1, 2024
Meanwhile, another follower sarcastically pointed out that there was a much more appropriate case closer at hand that Ruffalo could use to denounce the far-right agenda in America.
Imagine if white Christians in America, with their own history of institutionalizing slavery, holding witch trials, colonizing people, committing genocide (now in Gaza), and enacting Jim Crow laws, were to use Muslims as a template to explain Christian extremism.
— Ahmat X 🪂 (@AchmatX) July 2, 2024
Some found it ironic that Ruffalo would use such divisive language to condemn far-right propaganda while expressing staunch support for the Palestinian people.
It's funny how even liberals who think they stand with Palestine can so easily spread Islamophobia.@markruffalo Did you know that under Sharia law, abortion is only permitted for 40 days, even in the second trimester, depending on its interpretation? pic.twitter.com/dHvaOCnSae
— Q. Anthony Ali (@NobleQAli) July 2, 2024
On behalf of all the Muslims who were offended by Ruffalo's outrageous analogy, another angry commenter summed it up succinctly, writing, “Hey buddy. Can you take five minutes without using Muslims as 'horrible examples of bad things'? Thanks, buddy.”
Hi buddy. Can you spend 5 minutes without using Muslims as a “horrible example of bad things”? Thanks, buddy.
— Eric (@havlatwink) July 1, 2024
In this case, regardless of his choice of words, scrapped ship The actor publicly expressed his outrage over the mass killings in Gaza. “For all the innocent children whose lives have been torn apart in Gaza, we stand together and say: Not in our name. All killings must stop.”
The Hollywood A-lister has been calling for a permanent ceasefire on her social media presence, and was one of the artists wearing an Artists4Ceasefire pin at the Directors Guild of America Awards in February this year.
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