Actor Ahmed Best of Jar Jar Binks in “Star Wars: Phantom Menace” Backlash

Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best has opened up about how he received backlash. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace kept him from wanting to work for years after the 1999 release.

In a conversation with People in honor of the 25th anniversary of the first opus of the Star Wars prequels, Best reflected on how his portrayal of the character marked a major milestone in the film industry, but also had its drawbacks.

Jar Jar Binks was the first character in a live-action film to be created using motion capture technology, with the actor being the first to play this type of role. However, Best recalled negative comments about the character at the time and how he was the target of harassment from fans, leading him to stop acting for a time after the project.

“Everyone came for me,” he told the newspaper. “I’m the first person to do this kind of work, but I was also the first Black person, the first Black man.”

He explained that, although he was the first actor to do such work, he was “left out” of doing similar gigs because people didn't like his character, even though he had nothing to do. to do with the way Jar Jar had been written.

Even before the film's release, Best experienced online hatred, which he considers “the first textbook case of cyberbullying”, and it only grew after phantom menace released in theaters. What made the situation worse, however, was that the hatred wasn't just directed at his character, it was also directed at him as a person, and he received death threats because of his performance.

“It definitely wasn’t easy,” he said. “I was very young. I was 26. And it's hard to have this idea that what you've worked for your whole life, you finally get it, and you're finally in the big leagues and at the highest level of the game, and you hold your own All these years, you said to yourself: “My place is at the top of the game.”

He continued: “And then all of a sudden people pull the rug out from under you. And I was like, “What happens now? My career began and ended. I didn't know what to do and unfortunately there really wasn't anyone who could help me because it was such a unique position; this had never happened before in history, especially with the Internet component. …But George [Lucas] is untouchable, and everyone else was untouchable. Who wasn't untouchable? Me. Everyone came to me.

Best previously revealed that he considered suicide following the backlash he received for playing Jar Jar, despite the character being beloved by children and Lucas himself. (He later appeared in the other two films of the prequel trilogy: Attack of the Clones And Revenge of the Sith.)

In general, phantom menace received a lot of criticism from Star Wars Fans. Liam Neeson, who played Qui-Gon Jinn, addressed the backlash in September 2020 when he sat down with Andy Cohen for an episode of Radio Andy and noted that he enjoyed making the film and thought it turned out well.

“I like the movie. I’m proud of it and proud to have been a part of it,” Neeson told Cohen. “I must be a Jedi. I got to play with these wonderful lightsabers and stuff. It was great, Andy, it really was.

He also noted how he was very distressed by the way the fan base treated Best.

“He's been the subject of a lot of criticism, I mean to the point where it's really hurt his career,” said the Taken said the star. “And I have to say, when I was making that movie…he was probably one of the funniest, most talented guys I’ve ever worked with.” He added that he was so impressed with Best that he even told his manager that the actor could be the next Eddie Murphy, sharing at the time: “I still believe him.”