Rob Schneider used an interview with The Epoch Times to argue that Hollywood applies a political double standard, singling out Mark Ruffalo as an example of an actor who faces no career consequences for attacking Donald Trump.
“Mark Ruffalo could say whatever he wants against Trump and he’ll still get work as an actor,” Schneider said. “But if an actor like me… dares question the tribe of Democrats, that’s it. You’re out of Hollywood.”
The comments were not an isolated jab. Schneider has repeatedly returned to the comparison in the months since, and months later he escalated the feud further, attacking Ruffalo on X over comments the Avengers star made about the Paramount-Warner Bros merger and its alleged ties to the Israel-Gaza conflict, calling him a “Leftist Pro-terrorist coward.”
Schneider, known for Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and his longtime collaborations with Adam Sandler, has been outspoken about his support for Trump since 2016 and has said publicly that he is voting for Trump. He has pointed to his political outspokenness as the reason, in his view, that major studio roles have dried up for him in recent years.
Ruffalo, for his part, has continued to speak out against the president without apparent career fallout, most recently delivering a fiery speech at a Hands Off Our Vote rally in New York City, where he vowed to “Hulk out” over what he described as threats to voting rights ahead of the midterm elections. Critics of Schneider’s framing have pushed back publicly, suggesting his declining profile in major films has more to do with the roles being offered to him than with any political blacklist.
