Nintendo Reportedly Unhappy With Elon Musk's SNL Wario Sketch Over Risque Jokes

Nintendo was reportedly unhappy with Elon Musk's 2021 Saturday Night Live sketch where he portrayed Wario, according to former Nintendo PR managers Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang. The pair discussed the incident during a recent episode of their YouTube show, revealing that the sketch "did not go well" with Nintendo at the time. The revelation came as they compared the Wario sketch to a more recent SNL segment featuring The Legend of Zelda's Link and GTA 6's Jason Duvall debating which game would be better.

The Wario sketch aired at an odd time for Nintendo, with no new Wario game or product on the horizon to justify the character's sudden mainstream spotlight. Ellis described the internal reaction as "not beloved" and noted the sketch pushed into "uncomfortable" territory for a company that guards its family-friendly image fiercely. For a publisher that builds its brand on characters parents trust implicitly, seeing Mario and Luigi dragged through adult humor on live television represented a genuine brand risk.

What the Sketch Actually Contained

The courtroom-themed sketch cast Wario as a defendant accused of murdering Mario, but the jokes quickly veered far from Nintendo's typical tone. Writers included gags about Mario using cocaine, implied Luigi was sleeping with Princess Peach, and featured a video segment showing Luigi's censored penis. These elements went well beyond gentle parody into territory that directly contradicted the innocent, all-ages persona Nintendo has cultivated for decades across Mario Kart, Super Mario Bros., and the broader franchise ecosystem.

• Mario using cocaine
• Luigi sleeping with Princess Peach
• Luigi's censored penis

Nintendo has historically maintained tight control over how its characters appear in media, from the ill-fated 1993 Super Mario Bros. film to modern licensing deals. The SNL sketch bypassed that control entirely, airing live to millions with no approval process. Ellis and Yang recalled being at Nintendo when it aired, suggesting the discomfort was immediate and widespread within the company rather than a retrospective assessment.

Context and Comparison

During the debate on the new SNL sketch, Ellis and Yang slammed the segment where Link faced off against GTA 6’s Jason Duvall. The gag ridiculed The Legend of Zelda and tried to crown Grand

SNL has parodied Nintendo before, including a dark, gritty Mario Kart sketch inspired by HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us. That bit leaned into genre satire rather than character assassination, keeping the humor focused on the absurdity of a grimdark racing game rather than sexualizing beloved mascots. The distinction matters: Nintendo tolerates affectionate mockery of its tropes, but the Wario sketch crossed into territory that could confuse or alienate the family audience that forms the company's commercial bedrock.

Nintendo has not publicly commented on either sketch, and the company typically avoids engaging with pop culture parodies of its properties. The silence aligns with a long-standing strategy of letting unauthorized depictions fade rather than drawing attention to them through legal threats or public statements. For players, the episode serves as a reminder of how jealously Nintendo guards the innocence of characters that have anchored childhoods for generations — and how quickly a single late-night television appearance can test those boundaries.