Zeke Thomas may have grown up in the shadow of greatness. But the serial entrepreneur and DJ extraordinaire has always forged his own path.
The son of NBA legend Isiah Thomas, Zeke grew up around basketball and still loves the game. As an NYC resident, he savored every game of the Knicks’ championship run this year, even taking part in their celebratory parade.
He capped the occasion with a bubbly glass of Cheurlin Champagne, one of his many endeavors. “It’s all about the grape,” he tells Queerty.
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As far as how Zeke’s day-to-day, it’s all about enthusiasm. Talking with him is a whirlwind: one minute he’s opining on the Aube region of France, and the next he’s speaking candidly about growing up with a Hall of Fame dad.
Regardless of the subject matter, he’s always quick to tell a joke and flash a smile.
“Being queer and being the son of an NBA Hall of Famer and sports legend, for me to say it was normal, that wouldn’t be truly factual,” he adds.
Though Zeke says coming out was “extremely easy,” his dad made it clear that he would have to use his own platform to advocate for the causes that matter to him. For the last decade, one of those has been speaking out about sexual assault. Zeke was assaulted by a man he met on Grindr, and bravely shared his story in 2017.
Through his life, he’s never hidden from the truth.
In between gigs, Queerty recently caught up with Zeke to chat about speaking out, spinning tracks and sipping top shelf champagne. Here’s what he had to say…
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QUEERTY: Your dad is Isiah Thomas. What was it like growing up as an all-time great’s son?
Specifically, being queer and being the son of an NBA Hall of Famer and sports legend, for me to say it was normal, that wouldn’t be truly factual. I had a loving family. Coming out was extremely easy for me. They were accepting. I had acceptance on both sides of my family, my friends. It was more accepting myself, per se. I didn’t have negative role models in terms of queer things. I remember there was a question from the New York media, “Hey Isiah, if a gay player on the Knicks came out, how would you feel about it?” And he was like, “It wouldn’t matter. There have been gay people in the NBA before, and it didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.” Me and my dad posted for the NOH8 campaign together. He was very supportive and open.
As a gay man and as a Black man—somebody with a platform—my dad said to me, “You’re my son. I love you. I will fight for you.” But I think it was interesting, I remember him saying, “I have my fight. I have the things that I’m trying to get pushed through that are important to me, in terms of Black literacy, education, hunger. You have your thing, which is sexual violence or LGBTQ+ rights. I’m not saying I’m not supporting you. I’m just not…” You know, when your parent is a celebrity, you want to use all of their tools. You want to be seen, you want to be felt and heard. Definitely, I think when I was younger, I wanted to use my dad’s celebrity for queer acceptance: “I’m gay, but if I’m a gay celebrity kid, then maybe I’ll make friends better. Maybe I’ll get a hot boyfriend. I don’t know!” I guess it was anything to shield from the fact that I’m now vulnerable.
You’ve been outspoken about your experience with sexual assault. What’s your main takeaway from all of the advocacy work that you’ve done?
We have made progress. There has been systematic change. There’s been change in society around how we view sexual violence against LGBTQ+ members, against women. How we believe people, how we police people. So I feel like things have gotten safer in that sense. We go through different administrations—red administrations, blue administrations—so things do change back and forth, and hopefully we get some change in the midterms and 2028. You know, the Epstein Files didn’t come out, but they came out. Those victims have not been made whole, but the train is moving.
Moving to a lighter topic, let’s talk about your DJ’ing career. You told me your bread and butter are high volume, bottle service clubs. But I know you’ve also played on Fire Island and in many queer clubs as well! What’s the biggest difference between a straight crowd and a gay crowd?
The biggest difference is, who gets the party started! At a straight party, I am angling to get the girls to sing along. If I can get the girls to sing along, then the guys will follow. For the gays, it’s not about the singalong. It’s about the consistency. If you go one record, two records, three records, I feel like everyone is waiting: “Don’t F it up!” If you hit that third record, they love you and it’s great. The gays want consistency. It’s like, “If you’re gonna party, if you’re gonna step into our space, bring it, and bring it consistently. Don’t just play one track and expect us to go crazy.”
What are you playing for the gays these days?
I went to a Madison Beer concert recently, and have become a fan. Not only a fan of “I’m I was a woman, I would look like Madison Beer.” But honestly, she was talented. It was cool to see someone fulfill their dream who’s from New York, and got dropped by their label, told they weren’t gonna make it. Now, she’s making it and getting married to the quarterback of the Los Angeles Chargers. Just the perfect life! But I’m loving Black Coffee, I’m loving [Haitian DJ] Francis Mercier, AfroHouse. I’m definitely liking Madonna’s new album. And honestly, I know the gays don’t love it, but I love Chris Brown!
In addition to DJ’ing, you help run your family’s champagne company. What makes for the perfect glass?
It’s really all about the grape. Not to nerd out, but I’m definitely nerding out for a second. I didn’t really know—I’m a DJ. My dad is Isiah Thomas. I’ve always been around sport. I worked for the Phoenix Suns as a scout for 2.5 years. But champagne, it’s the pinot noir grape and blanc de blanc grape. We’re in the Aube region of France, which is one of the oldest regions of France. It’s pre-jurassic. They’ve been turning that soil for a minute! You get three turns of the soil, then it’s all luck in terms of where you were strategically located in terms of growing. We’re lucky enough to be in that region. We do the first press of the grape. Most champagnes are second or third-pressed. Some are fourth-pressed. Once you get to third and fourth-pressed, you’re starting to deal with perfumes and lipsticks, stuff you’re not supposed to drink!
What’s the perfect occasion to drink champagne?
After a Knicks championship parade!
I saw that you were on a float during the parade. That must’ve been insane!
That was a great moment for New York, for sports, for culture. I don’t think I realized how much it would mean to the city. The Knicks hadn’t won a championship in 53 years. For them to do it, the city was just electric and so supportive in the way they painted subway stations and came to watch parties. There were watch parties in funeral parlors. All shapes, all sizes, all colors, all genders. It felt like Pride, just in terms of unity, peace, hope. Everybody was working together. Everybody was celebrating together.
When you’re not taking part in championship parades, what do you do for fun?
I’m a bit of a serial dater. I like to meet people, whether that’s friend dates or romantic dates or dates in the night. I definitely am very marijuana forward. I sit on the advisory board for NORML with Bill Maher and Willie Nelson. I’m an old school stoner! I’m also a gaymer. I play a lot of sports games. So if anybody wants to play Madden, 2K or FIFA, hit me up. I’m also a Disney Gay. I love going to Disneyland and Disney World, going on the rides and screaming my head off. I like Big Thunder Mountain. But they’re scary!
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