If you haven't seen the stream of Ezra Miller news lately, first of all, how? And second, you'll be able to catch up on the increasingly dark allegations below. The most recent bit of trouble stems for the fact that, as of last week and according to Rolling Stone, Vermont State police were unable to find the mother and her three children who were allegedly living in unsafe conditions at Miller's farm in the state. Reportedly, police attempted to serve the mother with an emergency care order that would take away the children from Miller’s farm.
The repeated attempt to contact the mother, apparently, is what resulted in police charging Miller with felony burglary, Vermont State Police also report. This occurred after police found out that several bottles of alcohol were taken from a residence. After looking at surveillance footage, they found probable cause to charge Miller, who has been issued a citation to show up in Vermont Superior Court for arraignment in late September.
But, of course, there has been much more, including several arrests and troubling allegations of grooming and manipulation. Now, Miller has also responded, offering an apology and a promise to seek help. Here's what you need to know.
What Has Miller Said About the Allegations Against Them?
Early Tuesday morning, Variety obtained a long-overdue statement from Miller, via a representative of the actor. “Having recently gone through a time of intense crisis, I now understand that I am suffering complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment,” Miller said. “I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life.”
What are the Most Recent Allegations Against Miller?
On the morning of August 4th, Business Insider published a frightening report. The story, written by Melkorka Licea and Katie Warren, demands to be read in full. With highly specific claims of abuse, grooming, and emotional manipulation, it’s impossible to detail the Business Insider report without diluting its reporting, but this is as close to a summary as the story offers:
“Insider has spoken with 14 people who had recent interactions with Miller in which the actor exhibited frightening emotional outbursts, carried firearms, or left them feeling unsafe. Some people said Miller sought out impressionable young women and nonbinary people whom they could isolate from their families and control. In some cases, Miller had sexual relations with these people. In 2020, during a roughly two-month stint in Iceland where Miller walked the streets barefoot, rumours spread that the movie star was running a cult out of an Airbnb.”
The beginning of the story details an alleged incident where Miller had slammed the door of an Uber so hard on Sara Jumping Eagle—who was trying to retrieve her daughter, 18-year-old Tokata Iron Eyes, whom Miller has previously been accused of grooming—that she needed medical treatment. From there, Business Insider details Miller’s behaviour in Iceland, where their “makeshift commune, their monologues on spirituality, and their emotional outbursts, rumours began to circulate in Reykjavík that the star was running a cult.”
Later on in the report, which also includes new allegations around the nature of the relationship between Tokata and Miller, we also learn about a concerning series of incidents involving an 11-year-old child, now 12, who identifies as nonbinary. The mother of the child told the outlet that the actor “showed an inappropriate interest in her 11-year-old,” complementing “the child's style and maturity level and asked whether they were interested in starting a clothing line together.” (The 12-year-old now says to Insider, "I did want it to happen. It sounded perfect.”) The mother was successful in obtaining a harassment-protection order against Miller.
Following reports that Warner Bros. canceled the nearly-finished Batgirl—merely due to either financial concerns, or the quality of the film—fans have are pointing out the obvious on social media. Mainly, that The Flash is allowed to debut as planned, even with all of this? You have to wonder, given the nature of the accusations, if we’ll finally see decisive action on Warner Bros.’s part.
Have Any Other Accusations Been Levelled Against Miller?
On June 23, Rolling Stone reported that Miller has been hosting a mother and her three young children at their Vermont farm, with multiple sources telling the outlet that the living conditions are unsafe. The mother, 25, told Rolling Stone that the ranch "has been a healing haven for us,” after leaving what she described as an abusive relationship with an ex. Yet the children's father, who opposes the living arrangement, said, “I got a bad feeling in my stomach. I do want to go get my kids, they mean the fucking world to me.”
Two sources told Rolling Stone that Miller's farm "is an unsafe environment for children, alleging there are unattended guns strewn around the home on Miller’s 96-acre property." A source also alleged that one child picked up a stray bullet and put it in her mouth. Reportedly, a social worker visited the home and told the children's father that they "looked good," yet there was "more work to do."
The report from Miller's farm follows a story from June 8, when TMZ was the first outlet to report that Miller had been accused of grooming Tokata Iron Eyes since the latter was 12 years old. In court documents obtained by People, Iron Eyes's parents, Chase Iron Eyes and Sara Jumping Eagle, claimed that Miller has been manipulating their daughter for years, saying that Miller "took an immediate and apparently innocent liking" to Tokata. Even more, Case and Sara alleged that Miller gave Tokata marijuana, LSD, and alcohol as a teenager. In the court documents, they went on to claim that Miller, through the Quiet organization, offered to pay Tokata's college tuition. This past December, Tokata allegedly dropped out of school and later traveled to Vermont, New York City, Los Angeles, and Hawaii with Miller. Chase and Sara, in the complaint, added that Miller "uses violence, intimidation, threat of violence, fear, paranoia, delusions and drugs to hold sway over a young adolescent Tokata,"
In a statement posted to Instagram amidst the allegations, Tokata Iron Eyes defended Miller. Tokata's parents told People that Tokata doesn't have a phone and that they "doubt whether they wrote the statement."
What's Going on Between Ezra Miller and Warner Bros.?
On April 20, Hawaii police arrested Miller for the second time this year. According to the Hawaii Police Department, Miller was arrested for second-degree assault in the early morning, at a private residence in the district of Puna. A news release said, "During the course of their investigation, police determined that the individual, later identified as Ezra Miller, became irate after being asked to leave and reportedly threw a chair, striking a 26-year-old female on the forehead, resulting in an approximate half-inch cut."
What about the first arrest? According to the Associated Press, Miller was arrested at a Hawaii karaoke bar at the end of March. Hawaii Police Assistant Chief Kenneth Quiocho told the AP that Miller took issue with patrons singing "Shallow," from The Star is Born. As the AP report details, Miller "grabbed a mic from a singing woman and lunged at a man playing darts," before authorities charged them with disorderly conduct and harassment. There are more incidents, too. Miller has been the subject of at least police calls in Hawaii since March 7. Here's how the AP classified the incidents, via info from Quiocho:
They were “manini” incidents—a Hawaii Pidgin term that can mean minor or small—such as filming people at a gas station, refusing to leave the sidewalk area of a restaurant and arguing with people.
The same AP story detailing Miller's arrest revealed a court complaint against Miller, filed by two Hawaii residents. The complaint alleges that Miller “burst into the bedroom of the petitioner(s) and threatened” the alleged male victim by “saying ‘I will bury you and your slut wife.’” The residents filed a restraining order against them (Miller's pronouns are they/them), as well as alleged that Miller stole some of their belongings, which included a passport and wallet. Two weeks later, however, the AP followed up with the news that the two individuals dropped the restraining order against Miller. The lawyer for the two residents, William Dean, declined to comment on why they dropped the restraining order.
Even before the second arrest, this was all enough, according to an earlier story from Rolling Stone, for Warner Bros. executives to hold a meeting about Miller's future with the franchise. The Rolling Stone story alleges that Miller had "meltdowns" while filming The Flash. An insider told the outlet that while"there was no yelling or violent outbursts," they described Miller as "losing it." "Ezra would get a thought in [their] head and say, 'I don’t know what I’m doing.'" The meeting reportedly happened on March 30, with the executives deciding to pause Miller's future projects with the studio. (Miller also stars in the Fantastic Beasts franchise.)
What Does This Mean For the Future of the DCEU?
Thanks to a report from Deadline, it seems as if Miller will not remain as the DCEU's big-screen Flash. Sources told the outlet that "even if no more allegations surface, the studio won’t likely keep Miller in the Flash role in future DC films. That would mean replacing them in the future, but there is still a $200 million investment on the line with the first film and Warner Bros execs have to be cringing at each new press report." (Many more allegations did surface following that report.)
That said, The Flash is seemingly moving ahead. According to a story from The Hollywood Reporter, Miller "participated in regularly scheduled additional photography over the summer" on the film, which apparently has been "testing well." Meanwhile, fans have been blasting social media with calls to replace the big-screen Flash (Miller) with the small-screen Flash (Gustin), so maybe that's the fan-friendly fix here. Since The Flash doesn't hit theatres until June 23, 2023, this situation is surely far from its end, whether it means Warner Bros. keeping or replacing Miller. We'll keep this story updated if further details emerge.
