Liam Neeson Comes to the Defense of STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE and Jar Jar Binks Actor Ahmed Best

While there are a good amount of Star Wars fans who don’t like Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, there are some fans out there who will come to its defense when it’s being bashed. The character Jar Jar Binks has taken his fair share of criticism, and for some reason, over the years people have verbally attacked and bullied the actor, Ahmed Best, who played him.

Well, now the film’s main star, Liam Neeson, who played Qui-Gon Jinn in Episode 1, has recently come to the defense of both The Phantom Menace and Best. He even goes as far as saying that he was “proud” of the first entry in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. While talking to Sirius XM’s Andy Cohen, Neeson said:

“I'm very proud of the film, I got to be a Jedi, got to play with those wonderful lightsabers and stuff, it was terrific. I liked the movie.”

It’s actually nice to see Neeson stand up for the film. He should! There is some really great stuff in The Phantom Menace, and while it’s not my favorite Star Wars movie, I have come to appreciate it more over the years.

When talking about Best and his experience working with him, Neeson said:

“It really hurt his career. And I have to say when I was making that film… he was probably one of the funniest guys and talented guys I had ever worked with. I remember calling my old ex-agent… and said, 'I think I just worked with the new Eddie Murphy.' I still believe that. Truly, he had all of his in stitches – including George Lucas. But I liked the movie.”

It’s sad how Best was treated for playing Jar Jar Binks; he definitely didn’t deserve that kind of hurtful treatment. After reading Neeson’s statement regarding Best being the next Eddie Murphy, I would have loved to get to see that side of him!

What do you think about Neeson’s statements regarding The Phantom Menace and Best?