Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
Star Wars Destroyed Him - The Ahmed Best story
Thu, 30 Jan 2025
Ahmed Best played the character Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and other movies. He received a ton of backlash for the role.
Chapter 1: Who is Ahmed Best and what role did he play in Star Wars?
You know this character Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars? Well, at one point he tried to unalive himself. And this is a true story. And it starts with this guy, Ahmed. And Ahmed's 24, he's an actor, and he works really hard. And one day in 1996, he's performing in this live show, Stomp. And he's doing his thing, and he's on stage, and he's killing it.
But what he doesn't know is that there's a casting director in the audience, and she notices what a good performer he is, and she also happens to be casting for the new Star Wars prequel that they're about to film.
Chapter 2: How did Ahmed Best's audition for Jar Jar Binks go?
And so later, she gets in touch with him, and they're on the phone, and she's like, hey, we're shooting this Star Wars prequel called Phantom Menace, and I would like you to audition for this alien character. And Ahmed's like... And so, boom, he goes out to Skywalker Ranch for the Star Wars audition, and he gets to meet George Lucas, and it's this whole crazy experience.
And George ends up loving Ahmed. He loved his audition, and so, bam, he gets the part. And suddenly, his life completely changes. He's going to suit fittings for the alien costume, and he's doing screen tests for this alien character no one's ever heard of called Jar Jar Binks. And Ahmed works really hard on this. He comes up with the movements. He comes up with the walk.
Chapter 3: What was Ahmed's experience during the filming of Phantom Menace?
He comes up with the voice of the character himself. And so he ends up being both in the suit and doing the voice. And of course, he's super excited. I mean, he's loved Star Wars since he was a kid. And everyone's telling him his acting career is about to blow up. Plus, he's never been in a movie before. He's only done theater. So this is his first movie. And it's a f***ing Star Wars movie.
How cool is that? And so anyway, they shoot this movie and Ahmed does a great job playing the character. And before the movie comes out, his star is just rising. He's doing press with his co-stars and they're all on the covers of magazines. Well, technically it's Jar Jar on the cover, but still. And Ahmed can't wait for this movie to come out.
Chapter 4: What happened when Star Wars: Phantom Menace was released?
And so the world can see it and they'll see how great of a job he did. And he's like, man, this is going to change my life forever. Until... One night, right before the movie's release, Ahmed is watching a late night talk show, Conan O'Brien, and they're talking about the Phantom Menace movie.
And they're all joking, saying that this character Jar Jar Binks is gonna ruin the whole film because they had seen the character in the trailers and promos. Now, to be clear, Conan is only talking about Jar Jar, the fictional character, but it doesn't really matter because for Ahmed, it's hard not to take this personally. I mean, he worked hard on this character.
Chapter 5: How did fans react to Jar Jar Binks and Ahmed Best?
He invented the walk and the mannerisms and the movement. This is very much his character. But regardless, finally the big day comes. Star Wars Phantom Menace comes out in theaters. And Star Wars fans line up for hours to see this. And they get to the theater and they watch this movie and they see Jar Jar for the first time. And they are not happy. They're all coming out of the theater like, No!
What the f*** was George Lucas thinking? I'm a grown man yelling about a kid's movie! Oh, and these people aren't just ranting to their friends. They hate this character so much, they go to the internet. And at this point, it's 1999. So TikTok and social media don't exist yet. So these people are literally building whole-ass websites to trash Ahmed, like JarJarSucks.com and JarJarBinksMustDie.com.
Chapter 6: What kind of backlash did Ahmed Best face after the movie?
It's crazy. And they're also posting graphic fan art pictures that I can't really show you because they're so graphic, like pictures of Jar Jar's severed head next to Ahmed's severed head, stuff like that. And poor Ahmed, he's watching all this play out like, why is everyone so mad? I mean, Jar Jar was supposed to be a character created for the little kids who watch the movie.
Oh, and it gets worse because someone eventually gets his phone number and leaks it on the internet. And so people are calling him and some are making death threats. So Ahmed is like getting nervous about even leaving his apartment. And not only that, people in the traditional media are making think pieces about how Jar Jar Binks is a racist stereotype.
I guess because his accent sounds vaguely Jamaican? And these accusations completely break Ahmed. I mean, he wasn't trying to make an offensive character. And so he gets really down on himself and he falls into a depression. And he doesn't know what to make of all this. I mean, what is this going to do to his career? Is his career over? I mean, he's becoming a joke on the internet.
Who's going to cast him in anything now? And remember, this is all happening around 1999. So this is all happening before the world knew how to deal with internet trolls, before cancel culture. If the internet got mad at you at this time, it felt like the whole world hated you. In fact, Ahmed may have been one of the first, if not the first person to get collectively cancelled on the internet.
And he has no idea how to handle all this backlash. And so one night, he's really bummed out, and he's walking around New York, where he lives, and he starts walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. And here, he's hoping this walk will make him feel better, but this time, he feels different, like there's nothing left to live for.
And so he goes across the steel girder between the walkway and the bridge, and he stands at the edge of the bridge, and he looks out, and he's like, well, it's been a good life, and he decides to let go and end it all.
But then, suddenly, pow, a gust of wind knocks him off balance, and instead of letting it take him, Ahmed instinctively grabs onto something, and he catches himself, and he realizes, nah, I can't do it, and he realizes he wants to stay alive. So he walks back home and 18 years go by and Ahmed still thinks about all of that.
Jar Jar and the movie and all the things that led him to stand on the edge of that bridge that day and contemplate on aliving himself. And then one day, he brings his son to New York City to spend some time where he grew up. And they're walking around town, I guess, and they start walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. And bam, they reach the spot. That same spot where he almost ended his life.
Now Ahmed hasn't been back to this spot since that night 18 years ago, but he's grateful he didn't end his life. So he grabs his son and he takes a photo and later he posts that photo on Twitter and he writes a very honest and very vulnerable caption. 20 years ago, I faced a media backlash that still affects my career today.
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