A protest outside California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Oakland office caught the attention of some of the biggest names in Hollywood on Sunday. About three dozen demonstrators protested at Bonta’s office with a mission to persuade him to continue his fight against the Paramount-Warner Brot hers merger and not accept what they say is a bad settlement. More than 1,000 actors, directors and production crews, including 75 Academy Award winners, have come out against the merger. The group formed after actor Mark Ruffalo encouraged his social media followers to join the rally. Paramount Skydance wants to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for about $110 billion. But the deal has been met with political and legal challenges, as well as with protests. Among other things, opponents are worried it will hurt writers and shrink the labor market. “It’s the tens of thousands of people who will lose their jobs, the creativity that will be lost as a result of there not being this competition out there,” Landmark Theaters co-founder Gary Mayer said. Paramount has said publicly it needs the merger so it can compete financially with larger companies, but in July, California joined 11 other states in suing to stop the merger, and a judge temporarily blocked the consolidation deal during litigation. In an email, Bonta’s press office said they could not “confirm or deny” whether talks are ongoing nor about “their alleged substance.” Protestors say they want Bonta and other AGs across the country to stand firmly against further media consolidation, stop the settlement talks and take this case to trial. NBC Bay Area reached out to Paramount for comment about the rally and the ongoing talks but have not heard back. ...read more read less