International Talk Like Jar Jar Binks Day Date in the current year: August 19, 2024

Jar Jar Binks made his first appearance in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, the first installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He is a Gungan from the planet Naboo who is saved by Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He later becomes a Gungan general and a delegate to the Galactic Senate.

George Lucas developed Jar Jar to serve as comic relief. He based the character on the Disney cartoon character Goofy, and the name came from George Lucas’ son Jett. Jar Jar Binks became the first computer-generated supporting character in a live-action film. Actor Ahmed Best provided motion capture (he was cast primarily for his athleticism), as well as voiced the character.

Much to Lucas’ disappointment, Jar Jar was met with overwhelming dislike from both audiences and critics; some critics even considered him a racial stereotype of Black people, although both George Lucas and Ahmed Best rejected the allegations.

The film creators were also accused of specifically tailoring the character for a young audience and commercializing it. Due to the backlash, Jar Jar’s role in the subsequent installments was significantly smaller. Nevertheless, he appeared in Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, as well as in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Jar Jar Binks is often referred to as one of the most hated Star Wars characters. Sadly, some fans made Ahmed Best the target of their hate for Jar Jar. In 2018, Best revealed that he even received death threats, which made him contemplate suicide.

However, over time, fans’ attitude towards Jar Jar Binks have softened a bit, especially after a Reddit user published a theory speculating that Binks was originally conceived as a major villain, which immediately became popular. The theory was posted in October 2015, and the next year, a group of fans created a holiday dedicated to Jar Jar Binks.

International Talk Like Jar Jar Binks Day was created by Star Wars fans who liked his unique and awesome way of speaking and decided that it deserved to be celebrated. The holiday is observed on August 19 because it is Ahmed Best’s birthday.

Naturally, the best way to celebrate International Talk Like Jar Jar Binks Day is to talk like Jar Jar Binks all day. To make things easier, the official website of the holiday includes a translator from English to Gungan and a list of common Gungan words and phrases.

If you can’t or don’t want to talk like Jar Jar Binks all day or even part of the day, that’s okay! You can still celebrate Jar Jar Binks by posting something in Gungan on social media (do not forget to include the hashtag #talklikejarjarbinksday in your post), sending Jar Jar Binks e-cards to fellow Star Wars fans (you can download them from the holiday’s website), and re-watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Photo: Lucasfilm