Nintendo Staff Disliked Elon Musk’s Wario Sketch on SNL

It turns out that Nintendo employees did not find Elon Musk’s portrayal of Wario on Saturday Night Live very funny. Two former senior marketing staff members, Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, recently shared their thoughts on their podcast. They noted that the 2021 sketch where Musk played Wario in a murder trial did not go over well with the team at Nintendo.

During the episode, the pair discussed how the long running show has recently been focusing more on video game humor. While some might have seen the sketch as a lighthearted pop culture moment, the actual people behind the character had a much different reaction behind the scenes.

The segment placed the billionaire in a courtroom setting as a defendant accused of killing Mario. Even though the performance drew plenty of attention at the time, it seems it left a sour taste for those protective of the iconic Nintendo brand.