{"id":1200,"date":"2026-06-02T17:08:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1200"},"modified":"2026-06-02T17:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:08:26","slug":"paramounts-top-lawyer-claims-some-opponents-of-warner-bros-merger-are-engaging-in-fear-mongering-because-of-their-own-antisemitic-views","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1200","title":{"rendered":"Paramount\u2019s Top Lawyer Claims Some Opponents of Warner Bros. Merger Are Engaging in \u2018Fear Mongering\u2019 Because of \u2018Their Own Antisemitic Views\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThe chief legal counsel of Paramount Skydance, Makan Delrahim, has alleged that some opponents of the David Ellison-led company\u2019s pending $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery are motivated by \u201cantisemitic views.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Delrahim spoke about the backlash in the industry to the Paramount-WBD deal. To date, more than 5,500 filmmakers, actors and other Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter opposing the deal. House Democrats have urged\u00a0California Attorney General Rob Bonta to \u201cclosely scrutinize\u201d the deal.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPolitics is part of life. It\u2019s part of the beautiful process of democracy,\u201d Delrahim said. \u201cGenerally, we are very empathetic to the folks in Hollywood, but this transaction will actually create more and better and exciting jobs. David [Ellison] is an absolute lover of films; he\u2019s a filmmaker himself. For the first time, you are getting an owner who comes from the creative side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exec continued: \u201cLet\u2019s be honest. There\u2019s a lot of fear-mongering, particularly from people in Washington, D.C. They are running a political campaign. Some of these people are trying to inflict harm on this transaction really because of their own antisemitic views. Regulators and law enforcement officials will see right through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the interview, published June 1, Delrahim was not quoted as explaining or identifying which opponents of the Paramount-WBD merger have \u201cantisemitic views.\u201d Variety<\/em> has reached out to Paramount for clarification on his comments.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn September 2025, an organization called\u00a0Film Workers for Palestine circulated a pledge\u00a0not to \u201cwork with Israeli film institutions\u201d that \u201care implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.\u201d A few days later, Paramount released a statement condemning that pledge\u00a0for \u201csilencing individual creative artists based on their nationality.\u201d (The\u00a0Film Workers for Palestine emphasized\u00a0that the pledge is intended to target companies and organizations, not individual Israelis.) <\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, in the LA Times interview, Delrahim denied that Paramount Skydance has \u201ca commitment\u201d from Trump or his administration to have the WBD deal approved. \u201cThere are no deals with the president,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n\tAsked if Paramount was prepared to defend an antitrust lawsuit from California AG Bonta, Delrahim responded: \u201cWell, no matter what field you\u2019re in, whether it\u2019s antitrust or whether you\u2019re preparing for a football game, you always prepare the best you can for the worst, and you hope it never gets there. So,\u00a0we\u2019re preparing for challenges\u00a0from anybody and everybody. But I don\u2019t think any serious antitrust enforcer who looks at the facts, the law, the economics of this transaction will see an antitrust violation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast month, Delrahim sent a letter to Bonta, in which he \u201creiterate[d] our continued commitment and support to Californian movie theaters and audiences\u201d coming \u201cin response to certain misinformation about the marketplace expressed in recent public commentary.\u201d He also noted Ellison\u2019s repeated pledges that the merged company will\u00a0release at least 30 films per year. In addition, he said that Paramount+ and\u00a0HBO Max\u00a0separately do not have the scale to \u201ccompete effectively\u201d against bigger subscription streaming players Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu, and Amazon\u2019s Prime Video.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, regarding Paramount\u2019s potential absorption of CNN with the WBD deal, Delrahim commented, \u201cAntitrust regulators are going to see that it\u2019s going to create synergistic effects. You might be able to cross-program and more people will be exposed to the incredible programming of CBS News. They\u2019ll benefit from each other\u2019s independent strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount, before it won the WBD deal, said its\u00a0proposed WBD takeover had cleared a milestone at the Justice Department, after the expiration of the statutory waiting period following Paramount\u2019s \u201ccertification of compliance\u201d with the DOJ\u2019s second request for information under the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust act. However, the DOJ has the latitude to challenge a merger even after the HSR waiting period expiration. Earlier this year,\u00a0the acting head of the Justice Department\u2019s antitrust division, Omeed Assefi, said the Paramount-WBD deal will\u00a0\u201cabsolutely not\u201d be on a fast-track for approval due to political reasons, in the context of the Ellison family\u2019s friendly ties to Trump.<\/p>\n

\nDelrahim joined as Paramount\u2019s chief legal counsel in October 2025. Previously, as a partner at law firm Latham & Watkins, he had advised Skydance Media on the Paramount Global acquisition. Before that he served as an assistant attorney general overseeing the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s Antitrust Division during President Trump\u2019s first term. Delrahim, who is Iranian American, grew up in L.A.<\/p>\n

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The chief legal counsel of Paramount Skydance, Makan Delrahim, has alleged that some opponents of the David Ellison-led company’s pending $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery are motivated by ‘antisemitic views.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[433,434],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-paramount-skydance","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"yoast_head":"\nParamount\u2019s Top Lawyer Claims Some Opponents of Warner Bros. 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