‘Justice League’ Star Ezra Miller Was Told Coming Out Was ‘A Mistake’

“We’re ready. Humans are ready.” Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer November 10, 2017

Queer-identifying Jewish actor Ezra Miller says he was told that he’d “made a mistake” by coming out. In an interview with ShortList he said that after he described himself as “queer” in 2012, “I was told I had done a ‘silly’ thing in…thwarting my own potential to be a leading man.”

via GIPHY

Since 2012, when Miller was already receiving exceptional notices for his lead role in “The Perks Of Being A Wallflower”, the actor has gone on to star in no less than JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter” follow up “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them”, and “Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice”, playing superhero The Flash. He reprises his role, with more screen time, in the upcoming “Justice League”.

It’s not that homophobic typecasting isn’t a very real threat to out queer actors. It’s just that Ezra Miller has somehow managed to be a blockbuster star and a queer icon and a unique voice of irreverent truth-telling.

“‘You’ve made a mistake’ is such a hard thing to hear. Maybe if I’d actually made a serious mistake? But not for this. I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong, though there have been moments of doubt as a result of those conversations,” he told Shortlist.

“What they said was, in fact, ‘rubbish’, as you might say,” he added. “We are the ones. It’s up to us to manifest the world we want to exist in. But we’re ready. Humans are ready.”

via GIPHY

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO