In Cruella, John's character Artie is the owner of a vintage shop who bonds with Emma Stone's Estelle over their love of fashion (in the film, he helps design her "Cruella" outfits). John personally identifies as a gay man, and whilst Disney hasn't confirmed if Artie is an LGBTQ+ character or not, when asked about it in an interview with Attitude, John said: "It depends on who you're asking I suppose — but for me, yes, it's official: he's queer. But we don't see him falling in love; there's no social aspect to the character. It's not beating you on the head with a stick. But his lifestyle is fabulous, he loves his life and it was so fun to play him."
In the same interview, he goes on to say that "In one of the original scripts he was a drag queen, so I think he was always intended to be queer-representing I suppose, or somehow a member of the LGBTQ community. I imagine that was always the case."