‘Star Wars’: Fans Show Support for Jar Jar Actor Ahmed Best
Ahmed Best, who plays Jar Jar Binks in the famous Star Wars trilogy, went on Twitter to narrate his suicide contemplation based on extreme bullying he endured because of his role.
Thankfully, diehard fans and fellow actors and filmmakers came to his aide with positive, reaffirming messages that supported the actor and which moved him to make another Twitter post expressing his deep appreciation for the love and kind words.
The actor Tweeted, “Thank you all for your love and kindness. It’s been overwhelming. I’m gonna start writing this show. Gonna need help cause I’ve never done this before. I will be trying stuff out and posting it here. Let folks know. Thanks for all your support. It means so very much to me.”
Thank you all for your love and kindness. Its been overwhelming. I’m gonna start writing this show. Gonna need help cause I’ve never done this before. I will be trying stuff out and posting it here. Let folks know. Thanks for all your support. It means so very much to me.
— Ahmed BEst (@ahmedbest) July 4, 2018
Best has been in the limelight the past years since the opening of The Phantom Menace giving talks and showing up publicly taking pride in his work as regards to giving life to Binks. The Star Wars saga which is heavily themed and which a few fans took very seriously clashed with Binks funny disposition as they felt it detracted from the major theme. These insults had been going on for years before Best came out to share his emotional turmoil.
With this revelation, many conversations emerged surrounding the toxicity of fandom and actors such as Frank Oz who plays Yoda were seen tweeting uplifting replies. Even the director of Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn came out to strongly defend all creatives and give advice for those misled fans who harassing Best.
Toxicity of fandom proved to be a big matter when Christopher McQuarrie, the director of Mission Impossible: Fallout, stated his disinterest in directing a Star Wars movie due to potential fan backlash.
Episode IX, the next Star Wars film, is set to open December 20 2019.
Micajah McGregor, Editor in Chief of FanFest.com and renowned entertainment journalist, graduated from USC with a focus on Journalism and Film Studies. With an MBA from The Wharton School, he began his career at “PopCulture Pulse” and has been instrumental in shaping FanFest into a prime entertainment news source. Known for his financial analysis of celebrity net worths, Micajah received the ‘Digital Editor of the Year’ award in 2018. He’s also an active blogger, sharing his passion for superhero films and ’90s TV. Contact him at [email protected] for engaging entertainment insights.