Jar Jar actors was almost driven to suicide...

If you need any other proof how much toxic Star Wars fandom can be...

Star Wars Actor Ahmed Best Opens Up About How Jar Jar Backlash Almost Drove Him to Suicide

But the response to Best’s performance was more than mere criticisms or distaste for a character who was clearly meant to appeal to children. Almost immediately it took on violent, often racist overtones that Best says in a new video about that point in his life, cut him deeply and pushed him into a dark place:

“I was just alone and the depression hit me. Hard. I was just broken. The only think I could think of to make me feel better was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. But this time when I walked across the bridge, I didn’t see the lights of Manhattan.

I didn’t see the towers [or] the potential of hard work and ingenuity. I didn’t see anything; I just saw a fog. I felt tired of having to explain myself. I felt tired of having to defend myself and defend my work. I felt tired of having to fight back against racism and the racial stereotypes. I just wanted to play a part.”

 

"actor" singular... can a moderator kindly change the title...?

 

Not sure we needed more proof of Star Wars toxic fandom. But thanks. There is also this thread:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/jar...ered-suicide-after-star-wars-backlash.294862/

 

Oh, I had totally forgotten it. Can a moderator delete this thread..?

 

Why not?

 

Because we have enough. Everyone knows.

 

Because fandom is toxic. This is not news.

 

And there are two threads about the same thing.

 

A psychotic overreaction. People reacted as if Satan himself descended upon Earth in Jar Jar Binks' form.

 

I agree.

 

Well that's just silly! It's perfectly obvious that Jar Jar was far worse than Satan

 

For the first time an entire generation of people who had grown up gorging on vast quantities of science fiction, gee-whiz special effects and entertainment in general were exposed to a new version of a beloved classic.
They were far more jaded than their parents in 1977, and responded accordingly.

That being said, the fans reaction would have been muted if Lucas had listened to any of the very cogent suggestions he received from his creative team about Jar-Jar. The designer of the character hints in the Behind The Scenes portions of that she had a very different vision than what eventually ended on the screen.

 

In fact the Jar-Jar character is so non-sensical that there are people that legit believe that Lucas always intended for the Jar-Jar is a Sith Lord theory.

 

This. I feel a little sorry for Lucas over TPM. I think it’s the only prequel he put much effort into, and the fan reaction must have been a very unpleasant surprise. But it doesn’t help that he essentially blamed the fans for not liking Jar Jar and seems to remain quite bitter about their reaction.

As for the actor, the film could have been 120 mins of Jar Jar’s standup comedy routine and he wouldn’t have earned one iota of the hate he gets. Sometimes I imagine him, Hayden, and the kid who played young Anakin forming a support group.

 

If you're going to resurrect a (then) 20 year old movie franchise, you have to expect that the now grown original fans might be interested. The excuse that "it's just a children's movie" falls flat. Like it or not, adults were going to see it, and they expect to be entertained too.

 

I never understood why people blame actors so much just because a character, sucks. I recall hearing Jeffrey Dean Morgan also has had problems with people treating him like he is Negan. I don't mind complaining about movies but you suppose to treat people in civil way and have some perspective that it's just a movie. Also most of the time the blame can be traced to writers or a director or studio influence. A actor is just a hired hand in the creative process in many ways.


Jason

 

You're asking too much of people.

 

There is expect to be entertained and hate on the actors so much that they suffer psychological issues. That's the overreaction, not whether or not you were entertained by it.

 

I've heard soap opera actors talking about incidents where people treated them like they were their character and would berate them for the evil things their characters do. Some people get so wrapped up in stufff they see on tv to the point where they can't distinguish reality from fiction. It's nuts.

 

I still recall the lady from the movie "Trekkies" that was so in love with Brent Spiner I think she bought a house nearby to his. We had the lady who was always breaking in David Letterman's home. Of course you can't forget the biggest one of them all in John Hinkley Jr who tried to kill Reagan to impress Jodi Foster.

Jason