mario luigi meme

Reddit Dankmemes

This problematic Super Mario meme makes Luigi a bad guy

He represents the worst of the internet in this meme.

 

Stacey Ritzen

Internet Culture

Posted on Jul 11, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 11:26 am CDT

Like many pop culture mainstays that have been ingrained in our society for decades, the Super Mario characters have always been extremely memeable—especially as the video game universe continues to expand and evolve over time. For example, Nintendo recently caused an uproar by gifting fans Mario’s nipples and Luigi’s wiener, which the internet proceeded to promptly freak out about.

The most recent Super Mario meme to go viral started on—where else—Reddit in the r/dankmemes subreddit, when user Gina_Rolinu posted the following image back in June in which Mario and Luigi have a friendly debate over abortion. Whereas Mario presents a thoughtful, albeit conservative argument, Luigi on the other hand all-cap proclaims, “YEETUS THAT FETUS.”

What would you do?
byu/Gina_Rolinu indankmemes

As the post began to go viral, others jumped in and turned it into a meme, presenting Mario as the rational, level-headed viewpoint as Luigi would yell a nonsensical, oftentimes rhyming (and increasingly violent) counter hot take. It’s almost kind of a Goofus and Gallant dynamic, only mostly terrible because this is the internet, after all.

Luigi for president 2020
byu/Guard1anMeme indankmemes

Luigi is woke man
byu/GottaLongGong indankmemes

I’m with Luigi on this one
byu/Gina_Rolinu indankmemes

Luigi dropping the knowledge bricks
by indankmemes

Luigi number 1
byu/VivaanTheBlaze indankmemes

Unfortunately, as these things tend to go, the meme got appropriated by those who used it in racist or misogynistic implications, as you can see in a couple of the more sexist examples below:

Hmmm
by indankmemes

Damm Luigi
byu/ipate84 indankmemes

Other people started using some of the other Nintendo characters, such as Mario and Luigi’s respective lady friends, Peach and Daisy, in the meme:

😤 Yeetus that fetus 😤
by indankmemes

And then the meme began to consume itself:

Yeet my feet to the beat
byu/klogsman indankmemes

It’s unclear why poor Luigi is the one who comes off looking like such a huge dick in this situation, but maybe that’s just type of reputation you earn yourself by having such a sick death stare. Either way, now that Nintendo has fully embraced the death stare, we can probably hold our collective breath for that to change anytime soon.

READ MORE:

Share this article
*First Published: Jul 11, 2018, 10:29 am CDT