Amid the sea of Super Bowl commercials promoting electric cars, beer, and Dunkin’ Donuts, DC Studios touted its latest superhero film: The Flash, starring Ezra Miller as the titular hero. Miller, whom millennials may know better as Patrick from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, has lately been embroiled in controversy after controversy of his own making.
For the past few years, Miller has been putting the maxim “all press is good press” to the test, amassing charges from harassment and burglary to disorderly conduct and assault. Parents of at least two young people have accused Miller of grooming their children.
Last summer, Business Insider summarized many of the most harrowing, and downright strange, allegations:
“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, rumors spread that the movie star was running a cult out of an Airbnb.”
Though Miller was cast as the Flash in 2014 — and has already appeared in DC films Justice League, Suicide Squad, and Batman v Superman — most of this alleged misconduct didn’t come out until last year. Amid all this controversy, the powers that be at Warner Bros. have remained remarkably sanguine. Now, Miller seems to be seeking treatment as a way to mitigate this bad press so the production company doesn’t have to pour its $200 million investment in The Flash down the drain.
“Ezra is completely committed to their recovery,” DC Studios executive Peter Safran told Hollywood Reporter, referring to Miller with Miller’s preferred “they/them” pronouns. “We are fully supportive of that journey they are on right now. When the time is right, when they are ready to have that discussion, we will all figure out what’s the best path forward. But right now, they are completely focused on their recovery. And in our conversation with them, in the last couple of months, it feels like they are making enormous progress.”
In defense of the pile of cash he and Safran stand to make after the film’s release, DC Studios executive James Gunn similarly backed Miller and even called The Flash “probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.” (Which is funny, considering that the trailer looks like an ad for a low-budget video game.)
The movie is slated to come out in June, and if Miller apologizes enough, who knows what Hollywood will let Miller keep getting away with.
From a purely utilitarian standpoint, this allegiance to Miller may be unwise. Morning Consult polled the public last year on whether or not a film starring an actor accused of crimes such as Miller’s alleged transgressions should be canceled; 42% said yes. Even if the film doesn’t flop, though, it still exposes how little Hollywood actually cares about sexual misconduct allegations when playing the #MeToo card isn’t expedient.
Celebrities have been canceled for much less: Mandalorian star Gina Carano was dropped by Disney for politically incorrect (read: right-wing) tweets, Dave Chappelle has lost gigs for joking about the transgender movement, and some people won’t even play a Harry Potter-themed video game because of J.K. Rowling’s “transphobic” views.
It benefits Miller that he’s a former “budding queer icon” and nonbinary actor, not a conservative. For now, it appears that he can engage in pretty much whatever misconduct he wants. But if he tweeted something at all right-wing, his days in Hollywood would already be over.