Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best recalls suicidal moment during fan backlash in docuseries ‘Light & Magic’: ‘I thought it was my fault’

https://ew.com/jar-jar-binks-actor-ahmed-best-recalls-suicidal-moment-from-fan-backlash-11770498

28 comments

  1. > “I thought it was my fault,” he said. “I was 26. What should have felt like the beginning of something quite wonderful felt like the end.”

    > “I just remember myself on the outside of the bridge, leaning on one of the big pillars,” he recalled. “I see the Statue of Liberty, and what I think to myself is, ‘I’ll show every single one of them what y’all did to me. I’m gonna make every one of you feel what you did to me.'”

    > “I’m leaning on the bridge and I’m getting closer and closer to just going — just being free of all the talking and people,” he shared. “Then out of nowhere, WHOOSH, a gust of wind blows at me.”

    > He continued, “I lose my balance and I grabbed onto the side of the bridge. Then I laughed to myself, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?'”

  2. Star Wars fans are the worst.

    Sincerely, a Star Wars fan.

  3. There are just too many people among us that are flat out ignorant psycho’s.

    They sit behind phones and monitors talking shit to people knowing damn well they would never do it to their face. On top of that, this man was just doing his job and what he was asked to do. Why give him shit. I am just tired of people

  4. Real fans recognized him as soon as he showed up to save grogu. Im glad hes still here.

  6. Nah Ahmed. It was George’s fault for creating some of the most easily racist charicatures in fandom history.

  7. I remember watching the short video he did where he talked about the spot he was going to jump, and returned to the spot with his son.

  8. “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.” Mike Tyson

  9. I absolutely loved Jar Jar, and I had a Jar Jar toy with a sticky tongue that left long greasy marks all over the walls and furniture I slapped it on. Good memories.

  10. I don’t like the prequels, but the LAST person who should feel guilt for a bad decision is an actor following directions and doing a job. Can an actor do a poor job? Sure. Do I think he did EXACTLY as he was asked as best as he could? Absolutely.

    Any people that try to harass actors like him and Jake Lloyd need to go fuck themselves. Don’t harass anybody over something like a movie.

  11. He did what he was asked to do. He didn’t come up with the concept or write the script. Can’t stand the character, but it has nothing to do with the actor. Glad he made it through.

  12. i get that that there are shithead fans, but Ahmed Best always referred to the *critics* and *media* when citing the reason for his suicidal thoughts and depression.

    he explicitly said the *fans* kept him going.

  13. And then they did the same damn thing to Kelly Marie Tran. How dare an actor play a character?!

  14. Some SW fans just can’t understand that they make these movies to make money. Yes, they want to make it entertaining and awesome but it’s about making money at the end of the day. They try to add something for all age groups so (surprise!) more people pay to see it. Jar Jar was there for younger viewers and not for the adult man babies. Absolute shame what this “fanbase” has said and done to Best, Tran, and so many others.

  16. This is not going to be popular, but here it is: It’s important to remember what a terrible character Jar Jar Binks was. I know a lot of people are saying they liked him in the thread and how terrible everyone who hated him was, but the character was a bad part of a terrible movie. Also, I had no idea of the name of the actor who did his voice. I hated the movie but I didn’t have any anger towards him or Liam Neeson or Ewan McGregor. I didn’t think much of George Lucas anymore, but I wasn’t screaming about how he ruined my childhood or anything. Bad movies happen. We should be allowed to make fun of them for being bad without worrying that actors and directors are going to kill themselves because we didn’t like them.

    Also, that Jar Jar Binks bit on Robot Chicken with Darth Vader was hilarious.

  17. People will instantly blame George but no matter how you look at it. The fans are to blame. They over reacted. Like immature children who were not happy and wanted to complain that they were not happy. They could have just let it go. But they refused to do it.

  18. This makes me wonder how the acolyte cast feels. The racism and misogyny was egregious. Star Wars fans are vile.

  21. It was such a weird long two decades with SW fans. I remember RIGHT before the Disney Force Awakens came out, I watched the movies with my (at the time) friends. They were trashing the prequels hard with all kinds of stuff and mediocre criticisms. My brother and I still liked them.

    I think at one point, my brother just bluntly asked what was really so bad about Lucas making these films. It was his work, he can do whatever he wants, and while some things did not land well, there were still kids who really liked all three prequels. Those films were very popular with kids, which have always been Lucas’s coveted demographic.

    They started to say well, adults grew up with them, Lucas had only yes men, he never really had a plan (all true, tbh), but my brother and I were like “but he DID have years of EU material and not all of that was good as well?”

    Finally, they just admitted that SW “belongs to the fans” and he should have simply given it to them after TPM. All of his fans. Same fans who drove the kid actors for Anakin into quitting and threatened Hayden with death threats. Same fans who very strongly believed (at the time) that Samuel L Jackson should not have existed because “black Jedis don’t exist.” Same fans who advocated for prequels to be about only pure SW stuff and have NO movies for the average fan to enjoy (we’re talking obscure Knights of the Old Republic lore that even my brother, a hardcore KOTOR fan and overall SW lore enjoyer, had little knowledge about).

    Lucas’s billion dollar franchise and legacy just handed right over to fans who couldn’t even agree on the most basic concepts of what the Force was. If you thought midichlorians were bad, you were NOT there for the vitriolic SW panels debating even weirder bullshit.

    The absolute and sincere argument they had. TPM was a success box office wise. Even with the argument that the first movie flopped with true fans, Lucas STILL HAD TWO OTHER MOVIES TO MAKE UP FOR IT. I actually liked TPM and despised Clone Wars.

    Then when Disney came out with their big ol’ flops, suddenly Lucas was a god like creator who could do no wrong. Everyone loved the “campy” prequels. Same friends tried to like TFA and then started to say that Lucas should have been involved and there should be “one” ownership.

    It turns out that Star Wars is a real hard ass franchise to make good movies out of. For every good EU, like Shadows of the Empire, there was a Vong book.

  22. Wow. This is really heavy. Online abuse hurled at “characters” are always so sick (last of us currently). They’re just people trying to do a job and make art. Ahmed did his best with what was given to him and objectively wasn’t the thing that hurt that franchise. 

    Very happy that he came to his senses, and now he’s actually loved by the fans

  23. im glad dude made it through to the other side. for all the serious reasons. but also bc: killed self bc was jar jar binks, is the most rediculous ending to a human being life that i can dream up.

  25. “Fans” are the fucking worst. The sheer entitlement is unreal. No one is making a movie for *you*, get over yourself.

  26. This shits why I don’t like Star Wars anymore. I preferred it when I could just enjoy it within my own bubble, ignorant of other fans opinions.

  27. The malice of Star Wars nerds should not be understated. Gate Keepers in general can be callous monsters

Comments are closed.