Ahmed Best and Amandla Stenberg both know what its like to be harrassed by Star Wars “fans.”
Last week, it was revealed that Disney+ and Lucasfilm had opted not to renew Star Wars: The Acolyte for a second season. While the show had many vocal supporters, there was also a large group of Star Wars “fans” who wanted it to fail. In fact, some even started review-bombing the wrong Acolyte on Rotten Tomatoes. This week, The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg took to social media to react to the show’s cancellation and address the “bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language” that was directed towards the cast. Unfortunately, this type of behavior isn’t new within the Star Wars community.
Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, has opened up about the emotional toll the fan backlash had on him after the first prequel film was released, and even contemplating suicide due to the harassment he received. Today, Best took to Instagram to share his support for Stenberg.
“I will always stand in solidarity for artists who give 110% to their work and art. Keep shining queen @amandlastenberg,” Best wrote.
Ahmed Best Talks The “Strong Political Undertones” in Star Wars:
ComicBook had the chance to chat with Best at the grand opening of Bricks and Minifigs in Pasadena, California earlier this year. Best spoke about The Phantom Menace rerelease and also explained why the political sides of Star Wars are so important.
“All of these movies have very strong political undertones,” Best began when asked if he had a message for fans on May 4th. “So Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Sith were all done under the George W. Bush era. And even so much so that Anakin in Sith has a line, ‘You’re either with us or against us.’ And that’s directly from what happened during the George Bush era.”
“And there is a reason why there is a light and a dark and a journey in between them,” he continued. “And that is a direct reflection on who we are as human beings. And I think as we watch these movies, we have to also remember that what we are watching is not just ‘a galaxy far, far away, a long time ago,’ but it is a reflection of how history repeats itself. And we have the ability to create a history that we can either see as a dark side of history or a light side of history.”
“So this isn’t just movies that we watch that we love. This is a mythology that we can learn from,” Best explained. “And as we move forward, and the more of these things that are being made, we can look at them and we can make them as a reflection of who we are, but we can also make them as a reflection of who we want to be. And if there is anything that this May the 4th day should bring to us all, it is the idea that we can actually build these universes and be these people that we want to be, and make the feeling of the Force something real, and something that could move us to be better as human beings.”