Ezra Miller’s arrest last week for allegedly attacking karaoke-singers in Hawaii has caused Warner Brothers to “pause” all of the non-binary actor’s future film projects.
Though Miller has become well-known for appearing in the Fantastic Beasts and DC’s superhero film series, their career has been punctuated with several notable highlights and lowlights. Here are five of the actor’s most noteworthy moments throughout their unapologetically queer career:
March 2016 – Miller becomes the first out actor to appear as a major film superhero
Miller initially came out in a 2012 interview, after wowing audiences by playing a gay teen in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and a disturbed teenager in We Need to Talk About Kevin.
“I’m queer,” they said in the interview. “I have a lot of really wonderful friends who are of very different sexes and genders. I am very much in love with no one in particular. I’ve been trying to figure out relationships, you know?”
Their coming out was all the more momentous when they became the first out actor to portray a superhero on the big screen. They played the The Flash alongside other iconic heroes in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League.
July 2017 – Miller openly kisses a male fan at Comic-Con
At San Diego Comic-Con, the then-24-year-old actor was captured by TMZ smooching a male fan.
The fan had asked Miller if their superhero character The Flash could get drunk, seeing as their supersonic metabolism would likely process alcohol quickly out of their body. When Miller said it was unlikely, the fan suggestively asked if they could smell Miller’s breath to make sure they hadn’t been drinking. Miller then shared a kiss with the fan as proof of their super-heroic sobriety.
While the moment might’ve seemed like a harmless bit of cheeky fun, it’s rare for queer actors to ever kiss their fans, let alone in well-attended and widely covered conventions.
November 2018 – Miller reveals they’re part of a queer, polyamorous sex group
In an interview with Playboy magazine, Miller revealed that they were part of a polyamorous group of sexual partners called a polycule (it rhymes with “molecule”).
Miller said the polycule was made of “queer beings who understand me as a queer being off the bat.” They said they felt a strong familial and marital connection to its members and that everyone in the group loved each other very much.
In sharing this, Miller demonstrated that romance, dating and sex don’t have to look like what monogamy or pop culture show us.
The interview also featured Miller posing in Playboy‘s trademark bunny ears, fishnet stockings, size 14 heels, a gossamer blouse, frilly lingerie and a white jumpsuit. Miller has since made striking nonbinary fashions part of their regular public appearances.
April 2020 – Miller appears to choke a woman in public
A video of Miller taken at a bar in Reykjavik, Iceland appeared to show Miller choking a female bar patron.
The seven-second video didn’t include enough context to fully understand what occurred. The woman appeared to laugh and smile before Miller grabbed her. However, Variety reported that Miller had been “frustrated and angry” at the time.
Though the video went viral on social media, the bar’s employees reportedly escorted Miller from the premises, and police weren’t called to the scene.
January 2022 – Miller tells the Ku Klux Klan to kill themselves
Miller posted an Instagram video addressed to a North Carolina chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, the long-historied racist terrorist organization, telling its members to kill themselves.
“This is Ezra Miller — a.k.a. the Bengal Ghouls, the Mad Goose Wizard — and, um, this is a message for the Beulaville chapter of the North Carolina Ku Klux Klan,” Miller said in the video. “Hello. First of all, how are you all doing? Um, it’s me. Look, if y’all want to die, I suggest just killing yourselves with your own guns, okay? Otherwise, keep doing exactly what you’re doing right now — and you know what I am talking about — and then, you know, we’ll do it for you if that’s what you want.”
Miller wrote that the video was “not a joke,” adding, “Even though I do recognize myself to be a clown please trust me and take this seriously. Let’s save some live now ok babies?”
Miller later deleted the video.
Diplomat
He is a he. Not a they. And you wonder why Republicans are storming for dictato+rship. Like them I’m pis+sed about this completely irr+ational pronoun steal. It’s a total fa+rce. If you’re going to push this kind of garb+age we deserve to be sma+cked down at the polls. And I’m a dem. If you’re going to do woke try doing it ratio+nally.
storm45701
All the troubles in the world, and THIS is what gives you offense. Pronouns are immaterial to your life; a convenient distraction to the real outrages of our day.
Man About Town
What’s with all those plus signs??
Godabed
they have issues.
RTG
I have friends in Hilo…..they seemed to be completely wacked out…..local news, which is actually pretty LGBTQ+ accepting, didn’t know what to make of them….
marxist_homo
Do they get paid to write this shit?
Donston
This idea that it was “groundbreaking” for Ezra to get leading roles in big Hollywood movies is a stretch. When Ezra was cast in those roles they were still viewed as pretty much “mostly straight” by the public despite being “queer presenting”. And Ezra is hardly the first to get some big roles while overtly or somewhat attaching to queerness. While Ezra’s few public, unabashed, legit relationships have still been with cis women. Let’s also not forget about that time Ezra went on this awkward storytelling moment about being in clubs and all the “straight presenting” guys who have gf’s secretly wanted them. That was definitely an unnecessary piece of info and an awkward lowlight.
Ezra is a perfect example of the media and social media hyping up any pretty boy who detaches from gender/hetero normalcy. While ignoring that there’s elements of cis, masculine, white, hetero privilege at play despite them being “queer presenting” and also ignoring troublesome or “problematic” behaviors and patterns.
They clearly have some mental health struggles, some boundary issues, some drug/addiction struggles, and perhaps struggles with fluidity or paraphiliacs or insecurities or accepting/understanding the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, relationship, commitment spectrum. I do wish them luck. And I hope that these “tearing down people that we spent years defending and protecting” articles don’t become the norm. Because you guys are a part of the problem.
bachy
I interpret people like Ezra as being inspired by the LGBT community to distinguish themselves from standardized, heteronormative expectations. He and others like him are attempting to define who they are in a new way. A reexamination of gender, sexual attraction and relationship formulae all figure into their identities. Sure, it would be simpler if they just chose gay or straight, but I believe we should be sympathetic to these subtler forms of individuation.
Donston
Some very “queer“ and not very “queer” folks are kinda parasitic. Using queerdom as a way to escape gender/sexual norms and expectations, using queerdom as a way to appear edgy or complex or more “open-minded”, using queerdom and “gays” and trans people as a way to get clout or money or attention, using queerdom as a way to cover up their traumas or their mental health struggles or cover up their “problematic” and even terrible behaviors. And really, none of it is new. Generations have done this to some degree. It’s just easier to do it now. All of this does need to be recognized and taken into account. Instead of just hyping up everyone who attaches to queerdom, as the media and social media have done for a handful of years.
But this is why I focus on individualism. It’s not about everyone should choose “gay” or “straight” or “male” or “female”. It’s not about being this or that. It’s more about understanding that everyone’s sexuality and sexual journey is different, everyone has their own experiences or non-experiences with traumas or questioning or fluidity, everyone has their own insecurities, everyone has different moral aptitudes and different motivations and different psychological makeup, everyone has their own interpretation of love and the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum. People understanding all of this would help to promote most honesty but also help cut back on the leeching and folks hiding behind “queerness” to justify whatever.
bachy
I completely agree with your focus on individuality, Donston! My impression is that often, younger people require a label to serve as an identity. Sure, they reject the old labels – but they’re 100% game for the new labels. Labels create the reassuring illusion that there are others just like us. Creative self-labeling seems to be an initial form of what eventually evolves into mature individuation.
Donston
“Labels” have always been a double-edged sword. They’re a way to feel as if you’re being honest, to feel as if you’re a part of some community, and to stake a socio-political claim. But they’re also used to manipulate, to shield nuance, to build whatever image/persona you wish, to reject a set of people you resent, etc. However, even people who talk about how they don’t believe in “labels” often have a multitude of motivations and insecurities.
People are generally a mess. While social media has turned identities, sex, gender, relationships into even more of a form of social, political, ego, money currency. While people are frequently contradictory, and a lot of folks do experience degrees of gender/sexual fluidity. People don’t seem to understand that gender and sexual journeys and dimensions are individual and that the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum is wide and varied. For example, there are many guys are here who have a lot of hetero and/or trans attractions and may enjoy sex more with those people, but they still have overall same-sex leanings and investment. Those types of distinctions and contradictions are not frequently talked about, especially with guys, because people want to fit into whatever identity or they’re trying to create whatever type of image. The important thing is to be honest with yourself and don’t be an a-hole and if you need legit help then get it.
Though hardly any of this is an excuse for Ezra’s behaviors. It’s pretty apparent that their issues extend beyond identities and probably have a lot to do with traumas and some self-destructive instincts.
Jim
Ninbinary??
Dude you must be in desperate need of attention.
gregg2010
I think Ezra is a talented and quite interesting actor. Enough said.
Polaro
Bad and screwed up people come in all shapes. Ezra’s behavior is irrelevant to whom he choses to sleep with, wear, or identify as. Just like Caitlyn Jenner’s moronic views and values do not reflect at all her choice to be a trans woman. This identity nonsense has gone too far. He’s a weird dude, and I’m OK with that. All the rest is fashion and a cry for attention. And, yes, I mean everyone who is non-binary. Fashion and attention…that is all it is.
BaltoSteve
I guess 2022/2023 is going to be the redemption stint in rehab.