THE PHANTOM MENACE Star Ahmed Best Reveals Fan Backlash To Jar Jar Binks Caused Him To Contemplate Suicide

THE PHANTOM MENACE Star Ahmed Best Reveals Fan Backlash To Jar Jar Binks Caused Him To Contemplate Suicide

While it seems like the response to The Last Jedi represents a new low in the world of fandom, this discourse is nothing new as a recent tweet from The Phantom Menace actor Ahmed Best reminds us...

By FromACertainPOV - Jul 05, 2018 09:07 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: Twitter
The actions and behaviour of Star Wars fans, along with genre fandoms in general, has been in the spotlight of late as the response to popular entertainment has become increasingly more hateful, vile and toxic with personal insults, threats of violence and a terrifying level of entitlement all being the order of the day, usually with some measure of misogyny, racism and homophobia thrown in for good measure.

Recent victims of note have been director Rian Johnson who following the 2017 release of his film Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been besieged daily by hate and scorn on social media that goes beyond any genuine, decent or constructive film criticism. That film's star Kelly Marie Tran has also come under fire and following incessant racist and sexist comments caused by those less than enamored with her character Rose Tico, causing the actress to subsequently leave the social media platform Instagram.

While it may seem like this is a new phenomenon spurned by those resisting an age of wider representation who have simply co-opted the Star Wars franchise for their own uncivil rhetoric, this behavior is tragically nothing new. Even before social media and a sequel trilogy that nudged the entitled fantasy of many, fans of George Lucas' space-fantasy franchise have allowed their feelings on these films to disconnect from reality, and their disproportionate rage in response to fiction has had some very real-world results.

In a Twitter post this week, Ahmed Best, known for playing the maligned Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace revealed that the fan response to his character, who persists as a cultural punchline to this day, almost led the actor to take his own life.

There's a way to respond to art and entertainment that you don't enjoy but for some reason genre fandom has struggled to realise that and often when the topic does arise the narrative turns to a defensive "not all fans" mentality as opposed to a mature acknowledgment and denouncing  of those who display a behaviour not becoming of either an emotionally well adjusted human being or a fan of a franchise that teaches good of heart and unity above most else.

One can only hope that Best's comments serve as a sobering reminder that creators and performers of the entertainment that we consume while having placed themselves in a position to receive criticism for their work are not, no matter our feelings, deserving of the excessive and personal vitriol, ire and aggression that many in this culture display. 
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marvel72
marvel72 - 7/5/2018, 10:02 AM
I thought Jar jar Binks was awesome....

Said no one ever.
RocknRolla
RocknRolla - 7/5/2018, 10:07 AM
@marvel72 - the fault really lies with George Lucas and attempting to make it a childrens show. I agree that while yes Star Wars, a lot of times, is faced toward younger audiences... it makes most of its money from adults
asherman93
asherman93 - 7/5/2018, 10:13 AM
@marvel72 - You have an interesting definition of "no one".

I thought Jar Jar was alright once I got off the hate bandwagon - at least he DID shit compared to one half of the iconic comedic duo of the OT.
Ragnarocknroll
Ragnarocknroll - 7/5/2018, 10:25 AM
@marvel72 - Jar Jar > C3PO
YoloSwaggins812
YoloSwaggins812 - 7/5/2018, 10:43 AM
@marvel72 - Jar Jar is still better than Rose...
Imfunnyhow
Imfunnyhow - 7/5/2018, 12:55 PM
Misa gonna die?
marvel72
marvel72 - 7/5/2018, 5:04 PM
@RocknRolla - I agree,The Ewoks is a classic example but I still think they are better.Its shocking that The Lord Of The Rings:The two Towers had one of the best CGI/Motion Capture characters in Gollem & we got Jar Jar Binks in Attack Of The Clones.
marvel72
marvel72 - 7/5/2018, 5:06 PM
@repulse93 - R2D2 had his moments,C-3PO on the other hand was more tolerable than Jar Jar.
marvel72
marvel72 - 7/5/2018, 5:07 PM
@Ragnarocknroll - Ewoks>Jar Jar Binks
marvel72
marvel72 - 7/5/2018, 5:07 PM
@YoloSwaggins812 - HaHaHa you may have a point.
asherman93
asherman93 - 7/5/2018, 11:07 PM
@YoloSwaggins812 - Jar Jar and Rose > C-3PO
R2 is cool, though.
SuperCat
SuperCat - 7/5/2018, 10:03 AM
Damn. Poor guy :/
Humperdink
Humperdink - 7/5/2018, 11:11 AM
@SuperCat -

Yeah that sucks. 😕
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 7/5/2018, 10:05 AM
And to think a lot of that was before social media
Humperdink
Humperdink - 7/5/2018, 11:12 AM
@Ha1frican -

GAH! Good point.
It would have been brutal if it were now.
MikeEhrmantraut
MikeEhrmantraut - 7/5/2018, 10:06 AM
I pity the people who hate the actor and not the character itself. I don't blame the guy, he probably really wanted to be in a Star Wars film but got the role of a shitty character instead.
ThunderThighs
ThunderThighs - 7/5/2018, 10:06 AM
Hate the character, not the actor.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 7/5/2018, 10:12 AM
@BootyPeep - Except when you're talking about Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor, then it's the opposite.
ThunderThighs
ThunderThighs - 7/5/2018, 10:16 AM
@soberchimera - Hard to argue that point, I'll give you that one.
AquaCrow
AquaCrow - 7/5/2018, 4:14 PM
@soberchimera - you are correct sir. I’m still hoping he’ll be killed off and we will get a Lex senior. Just in my opinion (not saying he needs to be in the DCEU) but Micheal Rosenbaum is the best Lex we’ve had in live action. It shouldn’t be hard to cast an intimidating Luthor, I mean Eisenberg couldn’t even pull off an exo suit, I just don’t understand what the studio was thinking. I’m a 50/50 fan of both comic book wise and I read a lot, he’s a damn brilliant human who is an imposing and brilliant character in the comics and they have always played him off as a goofy shell of an amazing comic book character.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 7/5/2018, 5:47 PM
@AquaCrow - They just need to recast him and not explain it just like they did Bruce Banner, Fandral, and Rhodey.
bropous
bropous - 7/6/2018, 5:00 PM
@BootyPeep - I never had ANYTHING against the actor. I HATED the character. Who the heel loves Macbeth????? You get shitty characters, you play them, you get paid, you move on. Period.
FrankieDedo
FrankieDedo - 7/5/2018, 10:07 AM
And that is because people that offends an actor that played a character they disliked is so stupid and childish that thinks that the effects on that person are much less important that their exaggerated opinion on a movie.

That says a lot about people who takes movies and stuff like that too personal.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 7/5/2018, 10:08 AM
What a shame. Jar Jar was corny but why the hell would I attack the actor for that? Attack anyone invovled for that matter. Some fans give these films too much power over their lives.
MarvelDCAllDay
MarvelDCAllDay - 7/5/2018, 10:08 AM
I grew up with the character of Jar Jar and I’m fairly sure he’s the second or third Star Wars Character I’ve ever been exposed to. So I can’t muster nearly as much hatred for the character as others

James Gunn tore into these weirdos on twitter.
PrimitiveMan
PrimitiveMan - 7/6/2018, 12:13 AM
@MarvelDCAllDay - Same, I actually liked the character, and didn't (still don't) get the hate for him.

I can get how people might find him annoying, but not anything to dismiss the character (like fans, writers and SW creators have been scared into doing), or to outright ruin anyone's lives over a role they took. Seriously, there are far worse characters than Jar Jar Binx (Binks?) out there, and I doubt they get as much hate as him.
MarvelDCAllDay
MarvelDCAllDay - 7/6/2018, 7:04 AM
@PrimitiveMan - C3PO was goofy AND useless so it’s all just white noise to me.
BritishMonkey
BritishMonkey - 7/5/2018, 10:08 AM
That sucks. He doesn't deserve that.
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