Has Ezra Miller abducted a Native American activist teenager for a weird sex cult? Rumours are swirling about the Justice League actor, who is now the subject of a domestic-violence protection order. The order was taken out by parents Chase Iron Eyes and Sarah Jumping Eagle, who allege that their 18-year-old daughter Tokata Iron Eyes is being controlled by Miller in a ‘cult’ situation.

According to Iron Eyes’ parents, Miller first met their daughter in 2016 at an oil protest in Sioux territory when the actor was 23 and Iron Eyes was just 12. They have accused the actor of “corrupting a minor”, giving her drugs and flying her to London, Vermont, New York, California and Hawaii.

One might wonder what the parents were thinking, waving their underage daughter off on a plane with a highly charismatic adult man. Someone of my grandmother’s generation might even question the suitability of a wealthy adult male celebrity whose public brand centres on cross-dressing and sexual deviance, about whom allegations of sexual abuse have swirled since at least 2017 (when Tokata Iron Eyes was 13), and who has spoken in interviews about his history of polyamory, abuse, mental illness and prepubescent sexual activity.

The parents allege that their daughter has been groomed. But it might be more accurate to say that so have they. In previous ages, if a girl’s new BFF was an adult male, that might be taken as a reasonable proxy for exercising caution in allowing the friendship, let alone Miller’s heavily publicised forms of self-styled ‘queerness’ (which is to say, determination to undermine all social norms).

But we can reasonably infer that the parents, who are both dedicated Native American social-justice activists, are likely to be on the woke side; and from that perspective any such prudential hesitation would be viewed as the rankest bigotry. Indeed, Miller appears to use this as a bludgeon whenever he encounters opposition. Iron Eyes’ mother has stated that Miller blamed any disagreement with his actions on bigotry: “if anybody questions Ezra’s actions, Ezra says they’re being racist or transphobic, which is not the case in our case.”

Given this, what else can woke parents do other than ignore the Jubilee bunting’s worth of red flags about Ezra Miller back? This, remember, all began when she was prepubescent.

From the same woke perspective, it is as much a parental duty to encourage youthful independence, especially in young women, as it is to stifle any hint of protective concern about your daughter’s choice of friends. The teenage Iron Eyes has taken this on board: she recently posted a video on her Instagram, asserting the liberal independence her parents have doubtless instilled in her since childhood: “This is my life, these are my decisions.”

So Tokata Iron Eyes’ parents have discovered, far too late, that if you withhold judgement concerning the character of individuals while encouraging your child to self-emancipate at an extremely young age, the outcome may not be positive. That is, the child may claim a right to prioritise dodgy friendships over your wisdom and protection. If I could bring myself to be at all judgemental, I might suggest there’s a lesson in there somewhere.

---

Mary Harrington is a contributing editor at UnHerd.

moveincircles

---