Former Nintendo employees say Elon Musk’s SNL skit ‘did not go over well’ with Nintendo

Nintendo often appears in pop culture, being cited in songs, parodied in films, mentioned on television shows, etc. More often than not, Nintendo has nothing to do with these segments and spotlights, and sometimes they aren’t very interested in how they are represented.

In a recent episode of their podcast, former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang talked about a 2021 episode of Saturday Night Live in which Elon Musk portrayed Wario in a courtroom. Nintendo had no involvement in the skit and, predictably, higher-ups at the company weren’t too happy.

Krysta Yang: “They didn’t like Elon Musk 2021 (bit)”

Kit Ellis: “We were still there for that.”

Krysta Yang: “It didn’t go well.”

Kit Ellis: “(It) wasn’t liked. This one was out of left field. There was no actual Nintendo product that connected to it. Some of (the hardware) touched on a subject that was uncomfortable for Nintendo.”

(Krysta Yang and Kit Ellis)

While Nintendo may not be happy about this sort of thing, there’s really nothing they can do because parody and satire are strictly protected under the “Fair Use” doctrine of US copyright law. This is why you never hear about Nintendo going after the teams behind those spotlights, because there is no form of recourse. In other words, Nintendo just needs to sit down and take charge.