'As Odd as That Might Sound': Star Wars' Jar Jar Binks Actor Reveals How He Handles 'Brutal' Fan Backlash

Jar Jar Binks may be one of the more polarizing characters in the Star Wars franchise. When the Gungan debuted in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode https://www.threads.net/@theswu/post/DIsgkAZs7TR?xmt=AQGzBb4-skjUqG-9iCT8RXwuYObOjD8nT6U-VxClyYz9Pw1- The Phantom Menace, many fans didn’t quite know what to make of him. During the 2025 Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, actor Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy, talked about how some fans can be “brutal” in their dissection of the films, but it is likely coming from a good place.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” Best said during a panel at the Tokyo event titled “Heroic Sidekicks of Star Wars” that also featured Anthony Daniels and Alan Tudyk, who played droids C-3PO and K-2SO, respectively, in the Star Wars franchise. A clip featuring Best’s comments was posted on Threads by user thesw, via the official Star Wars YouTube channel.

Best: The Actors are Fans, too

“There’s the elephant in the room, where there’s a section of Star Wars fans that can be quite brutal, you know,” Best said. “And the reason why it affects us so much, really has everything to do with what Anthony (Daniels) just said. I don’t think you realize how much power you have when it comes to what we do, and what we have an extreme passion for,” he continued.

“I know for Alan (Tudyk) and myself, we grew up watching Anthony, and we grew up watching these movies, and at the time, there was no way to get there. There was no path to Star Wars.I don’t know why I was put in these movies. I really don’t,” Best said.

Best said that being in the movies made him realize what they meant to the fans. “I don’t know why I was put on the journey that I was put on through these movies. But, what it did make me realize was the thing that we all are - we are this really wonderful community of people who actually care about these stories.”

Star Wars is “Very Personal”

The Jar Jar actor addressed some of the negativity he’s experienced throughout the years. “I had to put even the negative comments…I had to put that in a place, and I had to realize that those comments are coming from care, as odd as that might sound, right? Star Wars is very personal to every single one of us. We all want to see our Star Wars movie - what we have in our heads. And sometimes that doesn’t happen on screen,” Best said.

I had to realize that those comments are coming from care, as odd as that might sound, right? Star Wars is very personal to every single one of us.

He continued, “And when that doesn’t happen on screen, there’s, you know, a comment. But the people who are putting these stories on screen care about you. We care about you, not just you know, as people who want to keep doing this, but as people who were sitting right there, exactly where you are looking up at that screen and going, ‘I want to be there. I want to be a part of this.’ So we care what you think and it does quite get cynical, you know, in the social media world,” Best said, adding that some people are, “Like, ‘oh, they don’t really care and this is Disney, and that was George (Lucas) and this is this and that was the prequels and that was the sequels and not as good as the OG.’”

“We Really Care”

“For us, we want to make these things, and we want you to enjoy these things, and we put our entire heart and soul into the work we do. We really care. You know, we really care about making this and we really about watching this,” Best said.

The actor went on to say that he came from “extremely humble” beginnings,” and his mother would go to the fabric store to buy Star Wars fabric to make him things like bedsheets.

“We are fans just as much as we are people in these things,” he said. And he added that while it may sound “cliche,” he told the fans, “You all have the power to keep making these things. You do.”

The Star Wars franchise is streaming on Disney+.

Source: Threads, YouTube