It’s been one of the more tumultuous years in terms of unfortunate pop culture events, and two Nintendo characters have borne the brunt of this with their all-too familiar names.
A viral post on X has reminded us that Luigi and Diddy Kong of the Super Mario universe have unfortunately become synonymous with their real-life namesakes, who now live in infamy thanks to the broad-daylight shooting of a CEO in Manhattan, and an extensive sex trafficking case, respectively. It’s not every day that you hear those crimes connected to a video game series about slipping on banana peels or saving a distressed princess, but we’d expect nothing less from the absolute whirlwind that was 2024.
As a refresher, Luigi (not the green uniformed plumber) Mangione was arrested this week as the prime suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Meanwhile, Sean “Diddy” (not the sidekick of Donkey Kong) Combs has become the subject of a sweeping range of crimes including racketeering, sex trafficking, and sexual assault. Naturally, gamers have connected these infamous figures to their same-name Nintendo counterparts, surmising that it’s “been a terrible year for Nintendo’s marketing department.”
Of course, Nintendo couldn’t have predicted that a couple of its characters would bear the same name as two of 2024’s most notorious figures, and gamers have flocked to the X post to sympathize with Luigi and Diddy, who were unfortunately caught in the crosshairs. “Mamma Mia… I’a hope Luigi didn’t-a do anything wrong,” one user wrote while adopting the plumber’s accent, with another adding that the “worst part is that these are my 2 favorite characters.” Some took the second-hand negative press that now surrounds the two characters a step further, saying “we do not claim these two anymore.”
Since Mangione has amassed quite a loyal following, there were some gamers who considered this a win for his Nintendo counterpart, saying it’s a “lot worse for Diddy Kong” since “Luigi is a hero tho.” Other users quipped that “the only Diddy we can trust these days is Diddy Kong,” or found the silver lining for the characters in the fact that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” (though I’m sure the real-life Diddy might disagree). In any case, it’s not the first time Mangione and Nintendo have shared headlines since the former’s arrest, with social media erupting with Super Mario Bros. chatter earlier this week.
For what it’s worth, Luigi and Diddy Kong aren’t the only names who’ve circulated the fanfare around Mangione, since Ryan Murphy and Dave Franco were also recently trending as onlookers predicted an inevitable television series about the shooting. For Combs’ part, his unfolding criminal case this week roped in fellow musician Jay-Z, who was named alongside the disgraced music mogul in a lawsuit alleging the rape of a 13-year-old girl back in 2000.
While he might be connected to Mangione by name, the video game version of Luigi is at least one step removed from the alleged gunman, since we discovered this week that Mangione was an Among Us player during the pandemic, with no mention of the Super Mario universe. Our (second) favorite plumber can at least take solace in that, but we’re still praying that a less problematic real-life Luigi and Diddy will shoot to international fame, and drown out the negative connotations for a pair of characters who are simply trying to complete Rainbow Road without falling off the edge.