Ezra Miller’s Controversy Has Gone Nuclear

The non-binary star of DC’s most anticipated superhero film, The Flash, has seen a string of assault accusations arise over the last few months, multiple arrests, and now, authorities believe they are holding a young Native American woman hostage as they taunt investigators via social media.

In their most recent episode, the parents of a Native American woman, Tokata Iron Eyes, whose family met Miller at Standing Rock in 2016 when Tokata was just 12 years old, now allege the 29 year old Miller had “groomed” and “brainwashed” their now 18-year old daughter, isolated her, taken control of her phone and social media accounts and is refusing to cooperate with authorities who have failed at attempts to serve them with a protection order obtained by Iron Eye’s concerned parents, Chase Iron Eyes and Sara Jumping Eagle. “People online are saying that she’s an adult and she can make her own decisions, but the only reason the judge entered the protection order is because we reclaimed guardianship, as of May 17,” the couple told Newsweek.

Instead, Miller took to their personal Instagram account to leave taunting posts directed at the officers who they manage to keep evading.

Tokata Iron Eyes, however, has released several statements, including a video, in which she explains that she is not being held against her will or controlled by Miller, but is seeking safe harbor from her parents, whose allegations she characterizes as “grotesquely false.” Her full statement is below.

Tokata Iron Eyes maintains that Miller has been a faithful sounding board throughout her emotional tribulations with her parents, and cites Miller’s non-binary gender and intolerance of their friendship as an underlying motive for their pursuit of her, and not worries over her safety.

This scandal comes on the heels of a string of other incidences of violence, threats and physical assaults committed by Miller since last year. In 2020, a video of the actor circulated that showed them picking up a woman by the throat outside of a bar in Iceland and throttling her to the ground.

Since the beginning of the year, Miller has had frequent public altercations, twice in Hawaii. In a March 28th event, Miller began yelling at patrons singing in a Karaoke bar, screaming obscenities, and, according to Hilo Police Officers, “at one point grabbed the microphone from a 23-year-old woman singing karaoke and later lunged at a 32-year-old man playing darts.” Their behavior resulted in their forced removal from the premises. Miller was detained and charged with disorderly conduct. A Judge ordered to them to pay a $500 dollar fine.

In another clash with the public, they allegedly stormed into the home of a couple who were hosting The Flash actor and threatened them saying “I will burn you and your sl*t wife.” The couple also claim that they stole a bank and credit cards, passports and driver’s license before fleeing. Immediately, the couple sought a restraining order against Miller, which was granted on March 29th. The protection order has since been dropped by the petitioners.

Just weeks prior, Miller, was thrown out of another bar in the Chinatown area of Honolulu and refused access to yet another establishment, Smith’s Union Bar, across the street, where they faced-off with a staffer who they shoved and called names before half a dozen police arrived to intervene. Video of that encounter went viral as well.

Miller has been candid in the past about dealing with mental health issues, but their most aggressive critics have used their gender as leverage to attack them, with some high profile detractors on social media mocking them in order to demonize the entire community, a common tactic of the far-right Gender Criticals, which I recently wrote about in the article “Bad Trans: Weaponizing One Against All.”

Naturally, they are using Miller’s run of problematic public behavior and allegations of grooming as an avenue to hurt the trans community at large. This comes during a time when the US and UK leaders have laid a target firmly on the backs of the LGBTQ+ community and their families, using them as fodder in their culture war waged only to preserve their supremacist ideologies.

On the business side, Miller was set to be the centerpiece of Warner Bros. and their efforts to launch DC comic adaptations into the stratosphere to compete with the uber-successful Marvel universe. Miller had portrayed the central figure of The Flash since 2016, beginning with a cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and then in Suicide Squad, in both of DC’s Justice League films and is set to carry the biggest multiverse vehicle for the DC Universe yet, with their own titular film. The Flash was originally supposed to release this summer, but Miller’s mounting list of legal troubles left executives at the studio with no choice but to push back the 200 million dollar film, which also sees the return of Michael Keaton’s original 1989 cinematic Batman, to 2023 with the hope that time will provide enough of a buffer from Miller’s issues that the headlines exposing their public antics won’t eclipse the film.

Now, that doesn’t seem to be entirely the case, as Miller’s continued behavior has left their future as The Flash in question. Although the film has long been completed and DC Studios has stood strongly in support of them previously, fans of the comic book franchises have demanded his removal or replacement and even threatened to boycott the film, calling the actor a “Public menace.” This has led Warner’s newly established Warner Discovery to hurriedly seek a resolution to unprecedented circumstances which could bring ruin to their 2023 tentpole film as well as those associated as they try to repair the struggling brand that so far has only seen one of their films, Aquaman, achieve the same degree of financial success as most Marvel entries.

Warner Bros. and DC has a lot invested in The Flash, which is set to expand their iteration of the Multiverse and propel the arcing cinematic storyline forward for years to come. Fortune has not been on their side, as their troupe of actors, alongside Miller, have been riddled with scandals of varying degrees. Wonder Woman’s Gal Godot has made divisive statements regarding the relationship between Palestine and Israel fetching tremendous backlash. Their Justice League films were more famous for their behind-the-scenes drama with directors Joss Whedon and Zack Snyder, the former accused of verbal abuse, misogynistic behavior and an explosive temperament that left the likes of Batman star Ben Affleck stating, “It was just the worst experience.” Then there was Suicide Squad director James Gunn, who had been fired by Marvel Studios after disturbing old tweets resurfaced that used bigoted slurs toward transgender people, joked about pedophilia and expressed anti-gay rhetoric. Just days after Marvel released him from his contracts, DC scooped him up like a hot property.

And of course there is the tragic case of Ray Fisher, who portrayed Cyborg in the Justice League films and was set to star in his own stand alone feature film. His complaints about Whedon’s behavior on the set of Justice League and allegations of racial insensitivities prompted an investigation wherein Fisher claimed DC head Walter Hamada and scribe Geoff Johns helped provide safe harbor for Whedon rather than hold him accountable. The investigation somehow resulted in Fisher’s own sudden and unceremonious firing from the franchise. Stories of abuse, reckless behavior and irresponsible management and leadership have haunted DC at every turn, including allegations from former Batwoman star Ruby Rose. Rose claimed they suffered extreme injuries due to a unsafe working conditions and brutal demands from executives even after they shared the extent of their injuries to their neck and back which could have left them paralyzed. Rose’s whole story is here.

With all the chaos surrounding Warner Brothers and DC, it will be hard for the studio to clear the latest hurdle presented by Miller. Despite fans clamoring for Grant Gustin, who stars as The Flash in the CW’s television version of the character, to replace Miller in the cinematic universe, reshooting The Flash is not an option as Miller appears in nearly every scene.

A source close to DC tells me, “Their hands are tied. They’ve tried talking to him and they agree to do better and then something else happens. They’re over a barrel. It isn’t possible to reshoot, and trying to use CGI to replace them visually would cost over half of the films budget. Everyone understands that Ezra is now a liability and appearing to support them has far reaching implications and no one wants to be presumed to defend or condone their behavior. Options are just extremely, extremely limited and a lot of people feel like we’re in a ‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ scenario.”

Although its suffered multiple delays, The Flash is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 23rd, 2023 starring Miller as well as Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton in a highly publicized and anticipated meeting of multiple Batman’s, which DC hoped would fetch the same critically lauded response that Spiderman: No Way Home did when all three Spider-Men from past films found themselves together in the same universe and timeline.