Fan Reaction To Jar Jar Almost Led An Actor To Suicide

In the cases of Hayen, Lloyd and Portman, i think it can be very much attributed to the director.

Oh yea. They were NOT given a good base to start from. From sitting on couches made from green screen boxes, to uninteresting and strangely worded dialogue, to (what I'm sure was) a lack of clear on set guidance from Lucas, they were all handed a loosing proposition. I think the only two (that weren't in rubber suits) I felt made it out of that trilogy without having been made to completely step on themselves were Christopher Lee, and McGregor.
 
Wait, how exactly has this adversely affected his career? Had Jar-Jar been loved it's just as likely he might not have gotten much work after that. The exposure you get as "the guy in the suit" isn't going to be the same as other roles. David Prowse and Peter Mayhew didn't exactly skyrocket from the franchise, either. What was he expecting? I've seen his IMDB and he has done some TV work. 99.9% of Hollywood actors aren't going to live off of their acting. For an actor of his caliber TV is where the money is at anyway.

I'm sure his self-confidence took a hit in 1999 but, if he was really at the point of contemplating suicide, it is likely that other personal factors had to play a part in that as well. I'm not in a position to know but it seems likely.

So he's asking if he should do a solo show based on this. If he wants to do the stage monologue circuit I implore him to do this as a comedy because being Jar-Jar is a comedy goldmine. Did Paul Rubens hide after jail? No. In 1991 he showed up on stage at the MTV awards dressed up as Pee-Wee with a wry smile and a great one-liner. Halle Berry owned her Razzie Award for Catwoman and stepped away looking classier than ever. Wil Wheaton was just a kid and, arguably had it much worse from Trekkies than Best did from SW people, but managed to turn his public image around. Don't market the self-pity, own it and wear it proudly. That's a show I would watch.
 
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And ian mcdiarmid.

Oh yea. They were NOT given a good base to start from. From sitting on couches made from green screen boxes, to uninteresting and strangely worded dialogue, to (what I'm sure was) a lack of clear on set guidance from Lucas, they were all handed a loosing proposition. I think the only two (that weren't in rubber suits) I felt made it out of that trilogy without having been made to completely step on themselves were Christopher Lee, and McGregor.

On a completely separate note, it's possible that Ahmed Best wasn't paid well, although I think he probably made decent scratch. Remember the story about Terence stamp expecting a generous bonus for his portrayal as chancellor vellorum in TPM but he ended up instead with Darth Maul stencils from George Lucas.
 
Bummer to hear this caused him such hardships. Sure, I didn't much like the character, but that's certainly not the actors fault. Some fans and even "trolls acting as fans in order to be mean to others" can just be too much.

Hope all of the affected actors and actresses find a way to struggle through this and come out of this stronger.
 
I didn't mind Jar Jar. He's an idiot, but I never thought he was that more annoying than C-3PO. I think the people that did that are probably the same idiots harassing the TLJ actors. Of course if this happened now, Lucasfilm employees and scifi websites would be branding anyone who didn't like the movie as racist like they do with people who didn't like TLJ.
 
Okay, I'll be "that guy".

These people played a role in a great franchise. They were well paid. They recieved a level of celebrity status.
They were hired to do a job.
Now fans don't like the character they played and are verbally beating you up for it.

Suck it up, Buttercup! Are your widdle feelbads so sensitive the it ruins your life and even consider suicide?! Many of us have experienced MUCH greater hardships and somehow we manage to soldier on and lead happy lives. But you? Yeah, we should be so lucky to have your "problem". They are just WORDS!
Pull up your diaper and get over it.

He did soldier on.

Give that speech again when you're illogically hated by millions. You think they just say it to their friends? You don't think he hears it every day?

You ever have a loved one get so hammered by negativity that it causes depression? Do you know what an actual mental illness is and what it can do to a family?

As far as Fandom and a character/franchise, I wouldn't be able to state it better than James Gunn:

People responding to this post (he linked the JAR-JAR post) saying, “Yeah, it wasn’t the actor’s fault! It was the writer’s!” are missing the point. Critique it. Don’t like it. But spewing hate and bile at individuals just doing their best to tell a story, even if the story sucks, is lame. Don’t watch it!

Star Wars (or any movie) may be important to you, but it doesn’t belong to you. If your self-esteem depends on how good you think the current Star Wars is, or your childhood is ruined because you don’t like something in a movie, GO TO THERAPY.


Yes.

Thankyou James.

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I keep seeing a serious lack of empathy on these forums. Whats wrong with just say that's terrible no body should suffer that much that they a driven to thoughts of suicide because of a character.

Yeah it's absolutely crazy these days.

But then I see a serious lack of empathy in the world... so it shouldn't surprise me it leaks into here.
 
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I didn't mind Jar Jar. He's an idiot, but I never thought he was that more annoying than C-3PO. I think the people that did that are probably the same idiots harassing the TLJ actors. Of course if this happened now, Lucasfilm employees and scifi websites would be branding anyone who didn't like the movie as racist like they do with people who didn't like TLJ.

Absolutely. Obviously it goes without saying that harassing any individual to the point of them considering such extreme measures is deplorable but others using this information to deflect or distract from their own failings is equally deplorable. It also provides an opportunity for some to artificially place themselves on a higher moral plain than others. The timing of all this is really incredible.

Actually, even though I consider myself to be a fan of the PT, today was the first time I even saw the actors face and I had forgotten his name.
 
He did soldier on.

Give that speech again when you're illogically hated by millions.

You ever have a loved one get so hammered by negativity that it causes depression? .

I'll give that speech all day long and won't feel the least bit bad about it.

And yes, I indeed have a loved one who was hammered by depression. Imagine losing your wife, two daughters and a 7 month old son to a drunk driver only to have the driver walk away without a scratch. My uncle went through the worst hell one can go through. He never once considered suicide. 8 years later he remarried and has a new daughter.

But hey, you're right! Having a bunch of people not like me is MUCH worse! :facepalm
 
I'll give that speech all day long and won't feel the least bit bad about it.

And yes, I indeed have a loved one who was hammered by depression. Imagine losing your wife, two daughters and a 7 month old son to a drunk driver only to have the driver walk away without a scratch. My uncle went through the worst hell one can go through. He never once considered suicide. 8 years later he remarried and has a new daughter.

But hey, you're right! Having a bunch of people not like me is MUCH worse! :facepalm

Okay you absolutely can't judge someone's decision to take (or not take) their life against anyone else's ability to cope better.

What happened to your uncle is horrible and shouldn't happen to anyone, but you can't say that because he was strong enough to survive that, that everyone else must have the ability to cope. Don't trivialize someone else pain. You're not him.

Maybe YOU need to actually look up empathy.

"My dad got shot 5 times and survived.... How dare someone else die from a single bullet"

I got caught up in an internet attack for speaking up for my crew. I had tons of people from around the world attacking me on all social media platform for like 2 weeks. I had to shut EVERYTHING down. EVERYONE brought it up when the talked to me. Some people stopped talking to me altogether. One of my best friends didn't agree with me and stopped talking to me for a bit.

It was SUPER depressing. I had another studio owner yell at me at a lunch, out of nowhere. I had to cancel my appearances at a pitch festival cuz everyone was "oh you're THAT guy..." (2 years later I would go to a fest and still hear about it)

Most people supported me, but the ones who were against me came at me HARD.

Again, that was 2 weeks and maybe less than 100 people. I had to completely disappear online for a bit.

To have that go on for YEARS from MILLIONS of toxic fans? I woulda lost my MIND.
 
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Actually, even though I consider myself to be a fan of the PT, today was the first time I even saw the actors face and I had forgotten his name.

Same! I heard the name first and was like "Ahmed Best? Was he a model? Wait... he was in Star Wars? As who? Ohhhh riiiight"
 
Actors were known to get public abuse for their characters' bad deeds 50 years ago. This isn't new.

But Star Wars is SO BIG and the earth is SO POPULATED with viewers now. If your show has hundreds of millions of fans then that's going to encompass every kind of weird reaction (and person) imaginable. Even the statistically-rare reactions will be happening a lot. And now the internet gives every idiot a platform to scream at others.
 
Same! I heard the name first and was like "Ahmed Best? Was he a model? Wait... he was in Star Wars? As who? Ohhhh riiiight"

Which makes me even more convinced that whatever attacks Best received came from a very, very small amount of people. Unless of course he involved himself in all the outlets that voiced and continue to voice criticism of the character and took it way to personal.

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Interestingly enough, I just stumbled across this article... A fair amount of the fan base would benefit from using these techniques.

Emotional Intelligence: The Social Skills You Weren't Taught in School

What exactly qualifies as a fair amount of fans? The individual who personally took responsibility for Kelly Marie Tran leaving social media represents a group online that has a total of 41 followers, Still havent heard from her on the issue either by the way. This rubbish is getting out of control.
 
Which makes me even more convinced that whatever attacks Best received came from a very, very small amount of people. Unless of course he involved himself in all the outlets that voiced and continue to voice criticism of the character and took it way to personal.

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What exactly qualifies as a fair amount of fans? The individual who personally took responsibility for Kelly Marie Tran leaving social media represents a group online that has a total of 41 followers, Still havent heard from her on the issue either by the way. This rubbish is getting out of control.

There is a not insignificant volume of people who seem to have never been taught how to deal with disappointment in a healthy, constructive way, including those who feel the need to heap abuse on actors when their performances don't live up to their ideal for that role (seriosuly, am I the only one who remembers that there were videos of people harassing Jake Lloyd at cons on YouTube back in the day?)

The sense of entitlement for some fans, and the out-of-propotion responses when things don't conform to their wishes, is ridiculous. Even though this latest ****storm may represent a small number, their aggressively vocal insistence on sharing their vitriol gives the entire fanbase a bad name.
 
Depression is an illness. Not everyone is the same. Why do you think people who never want for anything kill themselves? You can't just say dude you were lucky to have rubbed elbows with GL, quit your whining.
 
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