Warner Bros. is currently neck deep in another round of controversy thanks to the evolving situation surrounding Ezra Miller, the leading star of The Flash within the DCEU. Over the past couple of years, while their solo film has faced one delay after another, Miller has been in the headlines due to accusations of abuse and harassment, which is only the start of the trouble.
Trouble seemingly went public when Miller appeared to choke a fan at a bar in Iceland, which happened in April 2020 and was all caught on video by a bystander who shared the incident online. More recently, Miller was arrested on two different occasions over harassment accusations in Hawaii, leading to serious concerns about whether they would be a viable option to keep in the DCEU altogether.
With The Flash still more than a year away from its release, Warner Bros. has some difficult choices to make with the future of the DCEU, especially with Miller being one of the only original actors left. Now, that situation has become even more difficult thanks to new details that have come out about some of Miller's latest abuse allegations.
Ezra Miller Incident Details Become Public
Variety revealed details pertaining to the abuse allegations surrounding The Flash star Ezra Miller thanks to discussions with a number of victims and witnesses to several alleged actions made by the actor. Carlos Reynir was a bartender at a pub in Reykjavík, Iceland, where Miller was seen on camera choking a woman in public.
Reynir noted two separate incidents with Miller, one of which started as playful banter before Miller choked him and slapped him. Reynir jumped in to break off the fight, but Miller was allowed to come back to the bar after apologizing to the man with whom the altercation took place.
The second incident was much more difficult to ignore after Miller choked out a woman at a different bar, with Reynir noting that “there was always something with Ezra.”
Variety then spoke with the woman involved in the incident, although she remained anonymous for privacy reasons.
Miller reportedly asked, “Do you want to fight? Is that what you do?” as they walked towards each other, with the person filming the video jumping in to intervene after Miller grabbed her by the neck.
The woman had asked about Miller's feet after noticing some wounds on him, but when she walked away after the explanation and joked, “But just so you know, I could take you in a fight.” Miller Miller then replied, “You really want to fight?” before she said to meet him in a smoking area shortly after.
The woman thought it was just a joke, but then Miller actually jumped on her and began choking her, screaming at her about actually fighting as her friend began filming what was happening:
“I think it’s just fun and games — but then it wasn’t. All of a sudden, [they’re] on top of me, choking me, still screaming in my face if I want to fight. My friend who’s filming sees [they’re] obviously not joking and it’s actually serious, so he stops filming, and pushes [them] off me as [they’re] still trying to fight me. Two guy friends of mine are actually holding [Miller] back as [they’re] screaming, ’This is what you wanted! This is what you wanted!’”
The woman noted that Miller had spit in her friend's face "multiple times," but then Reynir came outside to break up the fight between them when he saw things "going way out of hand." The bartender then described the incident between him and Miller, sharing that the actor "[grabbed him] by the throat as [he tried] to usher them out the [back] door and tells [him} they’re not leaving."
Miller had claimed that the woman's friends pushed them around, although the bartender noted this wasn't what happened. Miller then "proceeded to spit in [his] face several times" before Reynir closed and locked the door on them. It should be noted that this act was allegedly committed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, making this incident much more egregious.
Miller then went to the front entrance aggressively trying to get inside, but they were eventually ushered away by friends, which was corroborated by multiple sources.
Another woman echoed this same sentiment about Miller, sharing that she had a friendship with Miller after a consensual sexual encounter in 2020. But then, Miller's mood changed drastically when she told Miller that they couldn't smoke in her home, which "just set them off."
Miller then went on a verbal tirade, saying in simplest terms that they could do “whatever they want whenever they want" before the woman countered by saying guests should "honor their host’s house rules."
“And this I’m quoting word for word,” she said. “They started with ’I’m a maker of planets. Tobacco is sacred.’"
When she told Miller this, they then "looked at [her] with this really mean, stern face, and told me, ‘Sit down,’ like they were ordering a dog.” They replied to that comment by saying “Yes, I’m talking to you like a dog.”
When the woman asked Miller to leave, they hurled insulates at her and began searching through her entire house and "spreading tobacco leaves on the floor:"
“I asked them to leave about 20 times, maybe more. They started insulting me. I’m a ‘transphobic piece of shit.’ I’m a ‘Nazi.’ It became so, so stressful for me. They were going around my house, looking at everything, touching everything, spreading tobacco leaves on the floor. It felt disgusting and very intrusive.”
She asked Miller whether they remembered about her being "a descendant of Holocaust survivors," although Miller then turned it around and made themselves feel like a victim in the situation:
“I asked them if they remember I told them I’m a descendant of Holocaust survivors, so why would they say that to me? They answered, screaming at me, ‘Yes, but how many people of my family died?’ Because many people in their family died. I was like, Oh, OK, this is a game of who’s got the most trauma."
About half an hour went by before she convinced Miller to leave, which happened after she called the authorities. After that happened, she truly believed that Miller “could somehow attack [her] physically," saying that she "felt totally unsafe" after that night.
She told Miller that she was going to call the police. but then Miller turned it back on her by pretending to call the police while she called:
“I told them I was calling the police because they were refusing to leave. And while I was calling the police, Ezra was calling the police — or pretending to call the police. I don’t know.”
Miller then entered the woman's bedroom and shouted that she was "triggering them" and that she had actually been the perpetrator in the instance:
"...they started to shout that they were a rape survivor and I was triggering them. They started to say I had assaulted them. I had beat them up. I had hurt them.”
Ezra Miller in Serious Trouble with Warner Bros
As the world learns more details about Ezra Miller's troubles, the situation becomes increasingly difficult for both Warner Bros. and the fans looking forward to their work. While it's unbelievably disappointing, considering that The Flash has been in development for nearly a decade officially, the movie itself could be the least of the studio's concerns moving forward.
Although the company denied having any discussions about replacing or firing Miller, insider information noted that the actor was all but finished playing the role within the DCEU. Warner Bros. has already decided to skip San Diego Comic-Con this year, and by the looks of things with Miller, it won't be an easy time promoting this movie as the studio tries to figure out what to do next.
The Flash is currently set to debut in theaters on June 23, 2023.
