Despite being a successful artist in his own right, Ahmed Best has spent his entire career struggling with the vitriol he received for his turn as excitable Gungan Jar Jar Binks in George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels. “I had death threats through the internet,” Best told Wired in a new piece on the actor’s journey. “I had people come to me and say, ‘You destroyed my childhood.’ That’s difficult for a 25-year-old to hear.”
The whole piece serves to humanize the performer and contextualize the controversial character, who audiences retaliated against for bringing what they viewed as a childlike obnoxiousness into the Star Wars universe. What’s most fascinating about the article, however, is how Best’s early interest in the internet made him particularly susceptible to the online hate for his character.